The Angel's Seal
by Kavi Leighanna
Summary: Friendships are tested in the resesses of one's imagination
1. In the Beginning

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Sixteen-year-old Lily Evans grinned as she threw her ocean blue sheets and blanket off of her pyjama clad body and whipped her legs onto the pearl tiles of her long-time home. The Spanish villa had originally belonged to her grandparents but when they got to old to keep it, they had given it to Lily's parents, Allessandra and Ryan Evans. It was situated close to the central core of the small Spanish town and Lily positively loved it. She grinned as she stretched, wincing only when the odd stiff joint popped. Lily Evans was going back to Hogwarts. Her brilliant green eyes sparkled as she skipped to her closet yanking open the mahogany doors carved with faeries and griffins. She scanned her many light green and blue tops before selecting a maroon tank top and beige pants. She pulled them on wandering into her adjoining bathroom. She quickly brushed her teeth and pulled her auburn hair into a low ponytail. __

'_I'm going back to Hogwarts_,' Lily sighed mentally as she skipped down the stairs to breakfast.

"She'll be here, Alaura, she's never once missed the train," Liandra Winters chastised gently for what felt like the millionth time.

"But she's never been this late before either," Alaura Cook replied to one of her best friends as she turned her lavender eyes to meet Liandra's blue ones. Liandra was the quiet one of the trio – consisting of Lily, Alaura and Liandra – and usually the rational one as well. Lily preferred all of the bookwork, though her temper was legendary throughout Hogwarts. Alaura was a completely different story. She had transferred to London from New York a year ago and had been enrolled in Hogwarts. Since their first ride on the train, Lily, Liandra and Alaura had made fast friends. Alaura still hadn't really caught on to all of the British terms – loo, lift etc – and so still used all of the slang she had been used to at home. Lily and Liandra had gotten used to all of this and didn't mind her slang, in fact, they could understand it. Being in New York for her first fifteen years had moulded Alaura to become tough and rebellious fitting in quite well with the Hogwarts resident pranksters, James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

"I'll take a wild guess and say you're looking for Lily," James said as he poked his head into the compartment.

"You haven't seen her have you?" Alaura said in answer.

"No, we have not seen hide, nor hair, of your feisty red-headed friend," came Sirius' charming drawl as he slid open the door wider also bringing Remus into view.

"Well it really doesn't help you sitting on the train does it? There could be millions of compartments I could have looked in before I found you."

"Lily!" James, Sirius, Liandra, Remus and Alaura all chorused at once. Lily smiled slightly, eyes sparkling.

"Who else would it be?" Liandra and Alaura tackled their friend to the ground in a large hug. Lily laughed before managing to choke out that she needed air. Liandra and Alaura quickly got off of her and helped Lily back to her feet. Lily looked for the first time in three months at her best friends. Liandra's beautiful sky blue t-shirt brought out her blue eyes against the blackness of her hair. She wore a white skirt that dropped to just below her ankles and white flip-flop sandals. Alaura was wearing her customary black though Lily couldn't say she'd done a bad job in choosing the loose fitting t-shirt and jeans. Her dirty blonde hair was left long, though under a black bandanna, dropping down to her mid-back. Lily noticed her black backpack her parents had given her for the purpose of putting her robes in for changing on the train ride. She grinned as she realized that the bag also held Liandra's Hogwarts robes.

"Missed me?" Lily asked rhetorically. Alaura rolled her eyes.

"Missed ya? Ha! I don't miss anyone," she said sarcastically, her American slang sneaking into the sentence. Lily turned to the three boys who were now standing at her back. She grinned wider and hugged each one in turn to say hello.

"I'm guessing Spain was a blessed break this summer?" James said taking in the tan complexion of one very grown up, very hot, Lily Evans.

"You have no idea," Lily replied flashing James a prize-winning smile, "but enough about me, how were your summers?"

"Boring. I did nothing but read all summer," Alaura said watching out of the corner of her eye as Sirius shivered.

"Scared of books, Black?" Liandra asked lifting a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at the black haired young man. Black nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm still trying to get over why people. . ." he shuddered, ". . . read." Lily grinned before motioning the boys to sit with them in the compartment. They didn't need another invitation and quickly sat Liandra and Remus on one side, Alaura and Sirius on the other side and Lily and James opted for spots on the floor. The talk was pleasant all through the trip with Alaura only threatening to kill Sirius once for being a prick. Lily smiled as she watched Alaura and Remus break into a heated debate. She had missed this so much during the summer. She caught James' eye and grinned wider.

"Alright! You two argue more than. . . I don't know! More that something that argues a lot but that's not the point here. What on earth are we going to do for our start of term prank?" Sirius said all at once. Lily blinked. She hadn't thought about their annual start-of-the-year prank on the Slytherins.

"Dung Bombs?" Remus suggested. Lily shook her head.

"Too easy."

"Too normal," James agreed. They lapsed into a thoughtful silence. What prank could be slimy enough for the Slytherins? They'd done all of the customary, dung bombs in their food, dying hair, changing clothes. . . what was there left to do? Love potion? No too standard and no one wanted to get expelled. Lily was good at charms, James at transfiguration could they use that to their advantage? Probably.

"Transfigure their food?" Lily started.

"Charm it to sing?" James added.

"Transfigure Snape's robes?"

"Charm them multi-coloured and translucent?"

"Okay! Enough! No more of this stupid finishing each other's sentences!" Sirius exclaimed as Lily blushed and James looked away.

"We could do all of that you know," Liandra said thoughtfully.

"Can we put in something with Malfoy? Please? I've been dying to kick his ass for. . . well. . . ever," Alaura added. Lily went into think-mode again pondering what could be done with both Snape and Malfoy involved.

"We'll transfigure Snape and Malfoy into meatloaf," she said absently.

"That'll go over well with the profs," Alaura said. The boys looked at her strangely. Alaura went over what she said and rolled her eyes.

"The professors?" Realization dawned on James, Remus and Sirius' faces as they caught onto Alaura's American reference. Liandra grinned widely.

"You really need to learn 'American'" she commented making air quotes with her fingers.

"Were you going to teach me? Then I might consider it," Sirius said grinning. Alaura slapped him in the arm.

"If any one should be teaching you the slang it should be me. After all, I'm the one that came from NYC," Alaura said glancing up at the boys' confused faces again. "New York City."

"So tempting though Lils. . . we'll have to save it for later," Sirius said turning back to the prank.

"What else could we do though?" Alaura asked. Lily snapped her fingers.

"We'll transfigure their benches into toilet seats. It's a really simple spell and this will be great for James to show off," she replied shoving the last sentence in only for fun.

"Only if you charm them to sing," James replied shortly. Lily stuck her tongue out at the black-haired boy across the compartment from her. He narrowed his eyes playfully in response.

"The national anthem?" Liandra suggested.

"Nah. . . Hogwarts anthem in different tunes?" Sirius proposed. Alaura shook her head.

"Too many different charms." Alaura was interrupted by the sliding open of their compartment door making James fall backwards onto the feet of none other than Lucius Malfoy.

"See now, Potter, this is really where you should be," he sneered as James righted himself and threw Malfoy a look that could kill.

"Well isn't that funny! That's where you'll end up!" Lily retorted a look of pure innocence on her face. Malfoy looked about ready to kill Lily but Alaura stood up and between them.

"Woah there dude. You don't wanna do somethin' you'll regret," she said carefully watching Malfoy's face. Malfoy was confused. He had never seen Alaura before and the language was new.

"So you bring in a foreigner to take care of your battles Evans?" Alaura hid her anger behind a cool mask she had learned from Lily the year prior. Lily's eyes darted from Alaura to Malfoy and back again.

"So I'm a foreigner now? Gee last time I looked I was still human. A lot more than could be said for you dude," Alaura replied her voice full of forced calm.

"You'd be smart to think of who you're talking to. . . " Malfoy began.

"Really? So you're above us all now? Well there's somethin' different 'bout our cultures dude. We treat every one equal. . . then again that ain't a word in your dictionary is it?" Alaura interrupted smiling sweetly. A look of confusion flitted across Malfoy's face much to the amusement of the compartment occupants. Sirius and Remus were tucking into little balls shaking to stop their laughter from escaping where James opted for grinning and shaking instead. Liandra was more worried for Alaura's well being than laughing at the fact that this was the first time some one had stood up to Malfoy.

'_Got to love America_,' Lily thought to herself the corners of her lips twitching in a smile.

"Now we've got that all settled, you can turn your little hiney 'round and head back to the sewer ya came from," Alaura continued motioning with her finger what she wanted Malfoy to do. Malfoy spluttered for a minute before turning and stalking back down the hall. Alaura closed the compartment door with a snap and fell back into her seat. Sirius, Remus, James and Lily all burst out laughing as soon as the door clicked. Alaura looked confused.

"Wha'?"

"No one has ever stood up to Lucius Malfoy and gotten out of it in one piece," Liandra explained patiently. Alaura's eyes widened.

"Ya mean to say that that git," Alaura began picking up Lily's most used name, "has never had any one stand up ta him? That is so bogus! Why not?" Lily shrugged catching her breath.

"No one really knows how. He's a 'pure blood' Alaura. He believes that his family and all other pure blooded families are the superior race," she explained patiently.

"And the inferiors are. . ." Alaura began motioning for her friends to finish her statement.

"Mudbloods," James began looking straight at Lily. Lily gasped and narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"Don't get me wrong Lils, I'm not calling you a mudblood. It'll be easier if she knows what we're talking about before she hears it from Malfoy," he said spitting out Malfoy as if it was a rotten banana.

"Mudblood?"

"A really foul name for a witch or wizard who is muggle born," Sirius filled in.

"So me?" Alaura said turning to him. Lily and Liandra nodded.

"And me," Lily replied eyes taking on a sadness that was usually out of character for Lily.

"It literally means dirty blood," Remus elaborated. Alaura looked as if she just swallowed a whole lemon.

"The whole reason we prank them every chance we get," James said. Alaura's eyes glinted with both anger and mischief.

"Toilets it is. One thing. . . we're charmin' them to spew sewer junk," Alaura said grinning. Lily smiled back getting the meaning behind Alaura's statement. Sewer garbage for the sewer rats. Perfect.

"We will be at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please stay seated until the train has come to a complete stop. Leave all baggage on the train. It will be taken to the school separately," a voice said throughout the train. The girls and the Marauders changed into their Hogwarts robes, Lily and James pinning on red and gold prefect badges onto their black robes.

"Prefect there Jamesie? Well there! You got more time with our Tiger Lily without even having to ask!" Sirius grinned at the glare James sent his way. Remus, Sirius and the other Marauder, Peter Pettigrew, all knew of James' infatuation with Lily. It was the constant topic of taunting the Marauders all preferred to used on James. Lily blushed.

"Jeez girl! Why dontcha both just admit ya like each other and go out already!" Alaura exclaimed turning Lily a darker shade of red and causing a splattering of pink to cross James' cheeks.

"And of course she chooses me to tease instead of Liandra and Remus," Lily muttered under her breath.

"What was that Lilykins?" Sirius asked sweetly. Lily glared at him. Oh if looks could kill.

"I said, and of course she chooses me to tease instead of Liandra and Remus," Lily retorted irritably. Alaura's eyes widened as she turned to face a very red Liandra Winters. Before any comments could be made, the train slowed to a stop and the students disembarked. Lily, Alaura, Liandra and another sixth year Gryffindor Dawn were in one of the horseless carriages heading up to the school and James, Sirius, Remus and Peter took another one. The school loomed ahead of them as beautiful and luminous as ever. Lily grinned as she linked arms with her two best friends and made her way up the front steps into the Great Hall. They spotted James, Sirius and Remus at one end of the table and wandered towards them.

"After Dumbledore finishes his usual start of term announcements," Sirius whispered. Lily rolled her eyes but nodded anyway. The doors to the Great Hall burst open as the ever-strict head of Gryffindor house, Professor Minerva McGonagall, entered leading what seemed like a small army of first-year students into the hall to be sorted. She set the sorting hat and its stool in front of the teachers and students. (A/N: I'm not really good at writing Sorting Hat songs so pick some song or if some one wants to write one it would be greatly appreciated) After the hat had finished it's song and was sitting primly, yet immobile on the three-legged stool, Professor McGonagall pulled out a long roll of parchment and unrolled it.

"Now when I call your name, you will place the hat on your head and wait to be sorted," she said lifting the parchment to reading level. "Aarons, David!" There was silence as the hat thought about where to put the new student.

"Ravenclaw!" The table to the left of Gryffindor cheered and applauded loudly.

"Avery, Louise!"

"Hufflepuff!" The scared looking blonde rushed quickly to the table on the furthest right of the hall.

"Abbott, Kristina!"

"Ravenclaw!"

"Bowler, Richard!"

"Slytherin!" The table between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff clapped loudly as the arrogant looking Richard Bowler swaggered to an empty spot on the benches.

'_Poor kid_,' Lily thought, '_First night in the castle and he'll already get pranked_!'

"Bardsley, Jillian!"

"Ravenclaw!"

"Carlson, Nicholas!"

"Slytherin!"

"Cook, Tanice!"

"That's my little sis," Alaura commented quietly to Lily and Liandra. The smiled at the small girl as she shakily approached the hat and set it on her head.

"Gryffindor!" Alaura clapped and cheered loudest as Tanice took a seat beside her older sister. Lavender met lavender as the two girls smiled at each other. Lily grinned.

"You can really tell that you two are sisters," she commented as "Dahl, Vivica," became another new Gryffindor. The sorting went on and on until Lily didn't know how much longer she could wait. Her stomach had been grumbling loudly for the last ten minutes. As if the scroll had read her mind, the last student, "Zea, Natalie," became a Hufflepuff and Lily turned her attention to the headmaster who was beaming brightly.

"Welcome back students. There are a few start of term notices that I wish to bring to your attention. First and foremost, the first years and some of our older students are reminded that the Forbidden Forest on the edge of the school grounds are what the name implies: forbidden," he said looking pointedly at the Marauders. "Also, please note that the Whomping Willow is not something to play with or around. It is vicious and will attack when provoked. Now, with that done, Zippity mimble wimble." Professor Dumbledore took his seat as the food sprung up on the plates in front of the Gryffindors. Lily nudged James in the ribs to remind him of the prank they had planned. He shot her a heart-melting smile before pulling out his wand. He elbowed Sirius, who had a mouth full of food, and Sirius kicked Remus. The three boys said the correct words flicking their wands at the Slytherin table. James then stole a forkful of Lily's potatoes and she nudged Alaura out of her conversation with Tanice. Alaura quickly explained to her sister what was going on and Lily lightly kicked Liandra under the table. The girls grinned at each other before chanting the charm needed to make the toilets the Slytherins hadn't noticed they were sitting on spew sewer garbage. It was a matter of seconds before the Gryffindor pranksters heard the shrill screams and yells from the Slytherin table. They turned and burst out laughing. Malfoy was covered from head to toe in sewer garbage. Not only had the dirty sewer water sprayed out of the toilets but rotten banana peels, old chucks of what appeared to be potatoes and other vegetables and mud had come with it. Lily gripped her aching sides. The hall was in tears. They also understood the dramatic irony the Marauders and Lily, Liandra and Alaura had provided them with. Dumbledore was chuckling slightly.

"Well, we'll give the customary detentions to Mr Potter, Mr Black, Mr Lupin, Miss Evans, Miss Winters, and Miss Cook before we proceed to the rest of our dinner," he said waving his wand and cleaning the sewer materials and smells out of the Great Hall. "Please note that these detentions will be served tomorrow night with our caretaker." Lily tried to keep her face straight; she really did, but the reminder of the caretaker, Cesspit Conduit (A/N: Look 'em up in the thesaurus. They mean sewer and pipe), made her laugh even harder. She would never be able to look the poor caretaker in the eye after the prank they had just pulled. Lily could barely eat through her bouts of laughter. Each time she calmed down something reminded her of the Slytherins covered in sewer grime and she burst out laughing again. James held Lily steady as they headed to the common room after eating a hearty meal as Lily's sides were aching and she was laughing again. They got Lily calmed down enough to extract herself from James and head up to the sixth year dormitories. They collapsed on their beds later followed by the two other sixth year girls, Amanda and Jessica.

"I have never laughed that hard in my life," Lily said breathing deeply. She couldn't help but think about how helpful James had been on their way up to the common room that evening.

"No kidding! You're still all pink in the face," Alaura replied pulling out a pair of pink plaid pyjama pants and a black baggy t-shirt from her trunk. Lily followed soon after with a pair of green silk pyjama pants and a sea green tank top. Liandra opted for blue pyjama pants with sleeping bears on them and a blue t-shirt. The girls, no matter how funny the prank was and how much they wanted to talk about it, fell asleep instantly as the silence of night settled upon the school.

The new school year for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had begun.

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Wow! I finished it! Over 3000 words in one chapter and the first one at that is a record! Anyway, review it and I'll see if I continue it from there.

Thanks!


	2. Insecurities

A/N: I'm pretty sure I forgot to put the whole none of it's mine thing in the last chapter. None of the Harry Potter stuff is. Anything you don't recognise is mine.

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Lily woke up as the sun's rays hit her face. She rolled over grinning as she realized where she was. Hogwarts. She was, in her mind, at home. She jumped out of bed and onto the freezing cold floor. Running quickly across the room with a hiss she pulled her uniform off of the hook she had placed it on behind the door and jumped into the bathroom to shower. As the warm water beat down on her back, Lily let her mind wander. Where did it end up? You guessed it, on James Potter. It seemed that it was getting harder and harder for Lily to get him out of her head. She sighed heavily as she stepped out of the foggy shower and wrapped a towel around her dripping body. She approached the large mirror over the sink. Her hair was dripping wet so she quickly dried it with her wand knowing that any moment Alaura would start banging on the door to get her out of the bathroom. Sure enough, as Lily finished brushing her teeth, Alaura pounded on the door.

"Lily! What's taking so long!"

"I'm on my way out," Lily called in reply and pulled open the bathroom door. She strolled quickly to her trunk and pulled out some of her course books.

"You so have to be kiddin' me!" Alaura said, as always forgetting her clothes, noticing what Lily was doing.

"What?"

"You so can't be studyin' already! Have you no life!" Alaura stomped back into the bathroom with her robes in hand. Lily grinned as she open her latest book.

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The girls wandered down to breakfast a half an hour later all in better moods than the ones they had woken up with. Lily grinned when she spotted the heaps of food on Sirius and James' plates. They could eat their parents out of house and home and still be hungry. She dropped down beside James and picked up a piece of toast that was on the platter in front of her.

"Hungry much?" Alaura asked sarcastically as she took the seat to Sirius' left. Sirius grinned at her.

"Much," Liandra and Lily in unison for James and Sirius. James threw Lily an indignant look but didn't get to say anything. The mail came with a chorus of screeches as the owls, both school and private, came swooping through the Great Hall. The Gryffindors caught their schedules and their morning mail.

"No matter how much we bug the head honcho we never get outta potions with those damned Slytherins do we?" Alaura said shaking her head at the page in front of her. Lily picked up her timetable and swore.

"Why me?" James grinned at her.

"There's an advantage though Lils." Lily shot him a glare. James put his hands up defensively.

"We have double periods to pick on the slimy gits. I mean, with our extensive knowledge in potions we would be able to have a little bit of fun with theirs," he said. Lily's glare turned to a mischievous glint.

"Care of Magical Creatures with the bastards too. Can my year get any worse? And damn it all to hell I just jinxed myself again!" Alaura yelled earning confused stares from the Hall. Lily looked back down at her schedule and swore again.

"What?" Liandra's gaze was shifting from her timetable to Lily and back again.

"I'll tell you what. . . "Alaura began.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts and Herbology with the gits! You'd think after so many years Dumbledore would stop putting the two groups together," Lily interrupted scanning her sheet to make sure they didn't have any other classes with the Slytherins. Liandra shook her head grinning.

"Don't you worry Lily Billy, we'll keep you all nice and safe," Sirius said in a singsong voice. Lily groaned and hid her head in her hands.

"Its not me I'm afraid of," she replied.

"Well. . . we should probably get a move on to that hell hole unless we want to upset ol' Mr. Cranky Pants again. Last time I did that, I cleaned out first-year cauldrons. Can I say ew?" Alaura said lifting her bag and pulling Sirius roughly to his feet.

"I'm with them. We really should get going," Lily said hoisting her bag, already stuffed to bursting point, onto her should and following Alaura out of the Great Hall.

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"Instructions for the Multiplying Mixture are on the board. Pair up and get to work," the harsh voice of the Potions professor, Professor Tonic, rang throughout the dungeons. Alaura sidled up to Lily and whispered,

"Does he have a stick permanently shoved up his ass?" Lily coughed violently hiding her laughing fit. The class turned to stare at her and she quickly composed herself and turned back to reading the instructions on the blackboard.

"We all know it," she replied quietly. "Hand me two snake tongues." Alaura handed her the offending objects and turned to cutting up sprigs of lavender.

"Let me guess. No one's given him the one-two either?" Lily smiled slightly.

"No student who wants to keep learning," she responded. Alaura nodded adding her perfectly cut up lavender to the bubbling cauldron in front of her.

"Lily," a voice hissed from behind her. She turned discretely to find a frightened Sirius Black.

"Help." Lily rolled her eyes.

"What with?"

"I've got the goat skin here all nicely cut up but my potion is green not pink." Lily looked at the mixture in Sirius' cauldron and sure enough, it was a sickly green colour. She sighed heavily.

"Did you add the poison ivy leaves?" Sirius nodded.

"That's your problem. You added them too early," Lily said smugly turning back to her own potion. Sirius groaned from behind her as Professor Tonic approached his bench.

"Mr Black? Is your potion not supposed to be pink?"

"Yes, sir."

"And is it?"

"No, sir. I added the poison ivy leaves too early, sir." Professor Tonic almost (I repeat ALMOST) did a double take. Sirius never knew where he went wrong when concocting a potion. Lily suppressed the grin that threatened to erupt on her face. She quickly added the poison ivy leaves the exact two minutes after Alaura had put in the lavender. She watched the other cauldrons bubble and steam as other pairs left theirs to stew too long. Professor Tonic brushed past Lily's bench and stopped at the head of the room.

"I would like a sample of your potions at the end of class. Mr Black I suggest you read instructions more carefully next time." Lily couldn't hold in the grin that spread across her face as the shuffling and cursing students turned back to their potions.

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"How do you do it?"

"I'm so workin' with Lil again next time we have this. . ." but Lily muffled Alaura's next words.

"Do you want a detention? Finish the statement when we get into the entrance hall," she warned. Alaura nodded and Lily removed her hand. As soon as Alaura set her foot in the Entrance Hall she finished her previous statement.

". . . Poor excuse for a useful class." Lily shook her head amused as she mounted the stairs to History of Magic.

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They emerged from the dusty classroom an hour later yawning and stretching.

"Mmmm. . . sleep is good," Alaura said yawning and lifting her bag higher on her shoulder. Lily nodded covering a large yawn. James, Sirius and Remus groaned as they made their way down to the Great Hall for lunch. Alaura, Lily and Liandra followed at a slower pace.

"That is more useless than potions and I dunno when I'm gunna use that crap anyway," Alaura was mumbling. Lily nodded again as she followed the flow of students into the Hall. She sat beside James and spooned pasta onto her plate eating groggily. The food woke them almost instantly and they chatting about everything and anything. This is what Lily missed in the summer.

"I heard from that Ravenclaw prefect. . . what's his name? Oh! Neil Hehner, that there was something Dumbledore was going to announce. Something about a special wizarding event happening this year at Hogwarts," James said shovelling another forkful of salad into his mouth.

"Did he tell you what? I haven't heard anything," Lily replied.

"No. He said Dumbledore told him it was. . . "

"Confidential," Lily finished. "Is anything Dumbledore does not confidential?" Remus, Liandra, Alaura, Sirius and James shook their heads.

"Any way, he's supposed to announce at dinner tonight. We'll find out then," James replied with a shrug.

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"Today we will be changing animals into picture frames. . ." Professor McGonagall said that afternoon in transfiguration. Something poked Lily from behind and she turned pulling the folded parchment out of James' hand before the professor could notice.

_Hey beautiful,_

_Am I the only one bored?_

Alaura, who was reading over Lily's shoulder, snatched the parchment and scribbled on it a response before handing it back to Lily.

_Nope._

Lily added:

_Being the top of the year has disadvantages._

She passed the note back to James when Professor McGonagall wasn't looking.

_You're telling me. Even Sirius is bored._

Lily looked down further on the page and saw Sirius' untidy scrawl.

_Was that supposed to be mean?_

Lily suppressed a laugh before picking up her quill and writing her response.

_Well I'm not helping him tonight. If he's not listening, then he loses out._

"Very good. Let's set to practicing then," Professor McGonagall said waving with her hand for the students to pick up their wands. Lily sighed passing the note back to James and picking up her wand. She heard Sirius groan from behind her and again suppressed a laugh. Lily quickly turned her animal, a hamster, into a fuzzy photo frame and turned back to Sirius.

"Come on! You know you really don't need my help. You just need. . . "

"To pay attention, I know," Sirius grumbled back. Lily returned to her frame with a smug smile on her face.

"Miss Evans, without the fur if you please," Professor McGonagall's voice rang out from across the room. Lily sighed before doing as she was told.

"I liked it all hamster-ish," Alaura said quietly from beside her. Lily nodded her head in agreement. She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and a flash of black hair. Liandra had whipped her head to face her partner. Lily sneaked a peak and noticed they were whispering in each other's ear. Remus and Liandra? What on earth were they doing? She elbowed Alaura a little harder than she meant to.

"What?" Alaura hissed back angrily.

"Liandra and Remus are whispering. What is going on?" Alaura snuck a peek at the two conspirators and grinned.

"Remus hooked Lia," she replied. Lily looked again.

"That's not like Lia though. She would tell us these things." Alaura shrugged.

"We'll get her after class."

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Lily plunked herself down between Sirius and James a dinner that evening grumbling.

"What is the matter oh Lily flower?" Sirius asked watching Alaura walk through the great oak doors with Liandra.

"Detention," Lily ground out spooning mashed potatoes onto her plate.

"Do I have one of those?" Sirius asked. Lily slapped him… hard.

"Of course you do smart ass. We pulled that prank yesterday remember?" Sirius looked like he was thinking. Lily continued to grumble incoherently.

"Lils, you're not making any sense," he said stupidly after a minute. Lily glared at him.

"Would you like it in English, French or Spanish? Spanish? OK," she ground out.

"Lils…" Alaura warned.

"Tengo la detención estúpida a causa de que maldice broma que estiramos ayer y yo no tengo el tiempo porque tengo los deberes de todo mi dios maldicen a profesores!" Lily exclaimed jabbing her fork into the steak on her plate.

"Lily, dear, how bad could it really be?" Alaura asked ignoring Lily's outburst. The redhead glared again.

"You just jinxed us now."

"So what?"

"You want to argue with me?"

"I'm gunna fight with you girlie!"

"Lily! Alaura! Stop it!" Liandra said giving each girl a sharp kick under the table. Lily stood suddenly and stormed out of the hall. Liandra looked to Alaura before both stood up with a sigh and followed her.

"Lily, stop. You will break down you know…"

"Why does it matter?" True, Lily was throwing a temper tantrum but it also seemed to always break down her emotional walls too. Insecurities and fears poured out of her when she was in this state, Liandra knew that and now Alaura did too.

"I'll tell you why it matters…" Liandra started.

"I don't know if I want to hear it," Lily replied, quieter now.

"Well you're going to…"

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A/N: Lily, when she's ranting says "I have stupid detention because of that damn prank we pulled yesterday and I don't have the time because I have homework from all of my god damn professors!" I probably could have thought up something better but I was too lazy! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I apologize for any crazy spelling or grammar errors (more missing letters than anything else)


	3. Fact or Fiction

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"Here's the deal Lils. You can't keep going on and on like this! You scare us when you decide that you're going to break down over the smallest of things," Liandra began almost nervously.

"Its not nice breakin' down. It puts a lotta strain on ya and just ain't pretty. You gotta talk to us every once in a blue moon so we can try to help ya through whatever it is you're goin' through," Alaura added. Lily sighed wiping away some stray tears that seemed to have leaked out.

"I honestly don't know what came over me. I've been having these mood swings for a while now…" Liandra nodded. It had happened once before, Lily's mood swings, and hadn't lead to anything particularly nice.

"Why?" Alaura prodded. Lily shrugged.

"I couldn't tell you that. I've been having them ever since I started having my weird dreams." Alaura looked to Liandra, relieved that she didn't know what Lily was talking about either.

"Its about the…"

"Miss Evans, Miss Winters, Miss Cook. May I have a word please." It was Professor Dumbledore. What had they done?

"Don't look so scared. You have done nothing wrong. There is a very important matter that I need to discuss with the three of you," Dumbledore said as he watched the emotions flicker across each girl's face.

--------------------

"Have a seat." Lily, Liandra and Alaura took the three over stuffed chairs in the headmaster's office looking apprehensively at the elderly man.

"Lemon drop? No? Well then. I brought you here to discuss something of great importance to not only the school and me but also to you girls. There is a seal buried somewhere in Hogwarts…"

"The… Angel's Seal?" Lily asked fearing her answer.

"Yes, the Angel's Seal. Am I correct in assuming that you have been having dreams about this particular seal, Miss Evans?" Lily nodded her head sadly.

"What is this Angel's Seal?" Alaura asked. Dumbledore hung his head.

"That is something we are not sure of Miss Cook. I am asking to you find out what you can about it. Now, I have gotten you girls out of your detentions with our caretaker for tonight because I would like to you start on this right away. I am also giving you this," he said brandishing a piece of parchment with the headmaster's loopy scrawl. "It is your ticket into the restricted section. Be careful not to lose this. Though your names are on the letter, it is quite a simple spell to change them to others." With that, he motioned the girls out of the office handing Lily the parchment.

--------------------

Later that night, Lily, Liandra and Alaura were sitting up late, surrounded by books in the common room. Liandra and Alaura had told Lily to go to bed countless times thinking it better for her to sleep with all of the dreams that it was possible for her to have but Lily refused. She had decided that she would not sleep until her friends did. She wouldn't feel like she was helping otherwise.

"We have been here for hours and haven't found anything!" Lily exclaimed throwing down yet another legend book they had taken out of the restricted section.

"I've got something here Lil, but its in Spanish… I think," Liandra said handing the book over to the redhead. Lily took a quick look over the text identifying it as the proposed language. She read it to herself.

"What are they doing with Spanish books in the restricted section?" Alaura grumbled. Lily signalled her to be quiet.

_"El Sello del Angel es una apertura mística y mítica a poderes más allá del conocimiento y la comprensión humanos aparentes. Se dice para ser enterrado el interior de Escuela de Hogwarts de la Brujería y la Hechicería y creado por los cuatro fundadores. Cada es dicho para haber contribuido alguna magia u otro poder desconocido a tal Sello y a lo se dice también que las almas sólo puras son capaz de abrir este hoyo poderoso. Dónde el Sello de Angel dirige es desconocido en su mayor parte porque el Sello es mas ser encontrado,"_ Lily read.

"Translation please?"

"Basically the Angel's Seal is a myth. Its hidden somewhere inside Hogwarts and is supposed to have been created by the founders of the four houses. It hasn't been found and can only be opened by pure souls," Lily said reading over the text again and again.

"Great. Really helpful," Alaura said sarcastically picking up a thick silk bound book and opening it to the index. She ran her finger down the page.

"Here we go. Looks like a whole section on our lovely myth. Lets compare the fact to the fiction," she said flipping through to the mentioned range of pages. Liandra peeked over her shoulder.

"Or we would compare it if it wasn't in a different language," she muttered under her breath.

"That's part of the reason its in the restricted section," Lily explained crouching beside Alaura to get a better look at the book. "They don't want people making a wrong translations and therefore getting themselves into loads more trouble than just asking a teacher."

"Then how are _we_ supposed to read it?" Alaura asked. Lily smirked.

"There is a charm we could probably use but it'll give us the direct translation as opposed to the grammatically correct translation," she said with a shrug. Alaura looked up at Lily expectantly.

"Well?"

"What?"

"Use the damn thing already! I don't wanna be up all night!"

"Oversettium," Lily said waving her wand. The text changed from the ancient language it was written to modern day English. Liandra cleared her throat.

"The Angel's Seal is an ornately carved metal disc that resides inside of the Hogwarts walls. Created by the four Hogwarts founder, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin, and Godric Gryffindor, the power it holds is legendary, though unknown. Many have tried to locate the Seal; none have succeeded. The Angel's Seal can only be opened by pure, powerful souls ("We know all of this," Alaura interrupted). Here's something. The pure souls are uncounted and the danger mounts with each new birth. What?"

"Basically with each new birth the potential of the Angel's Seal being opened grows. Pure souls don't have to be good pure souls. The souls, technically could be purely evil souls," Lily explained.

"This just gets harder and harder," Alaura said looking up as the portrait hole opened. James, Sirius and Remus entered looking exhausted.

"You have got to be kidding me," Sirius said, being the first one to notice Lily, Alaura and Liandra. Lily ignored him reaching for an ancient looking book.

"Please tell me it's not true. I ain't dealin' with any evil souled dudes. They'd probably kill me," Alaura pleaded turning back to their seemingly tedious task of finding information. James and Remus turned at her voice.

"How did you girls get out of detention?" Remus asked sleepily but either the girls didn't register the question or they chose to ignore him as Lily squealed.

"I've got more. It's in Spanish again; give me a second…" she said. "_El Sello del Angel creado por Hogwarts cuatro fundadores y localizado en dijo escuela es un disco poderoso. Teniendo el poder del conocimiento completo, se dice para ayudar los directores y las directoras en sus decisiones con respecto al bien de la escuela. El Sello se dice para ser localizado en la central que aguarda el tiempo cuando se necesita y es abierto por el director o la directora._ This one doesn't like the pure souls analogy."

"Well then that one is très wrong. Why would Dumbledore put us on research for something he already knows about?" Alaura asked. Lily sighed.

"Girls?" James started getting their attention. Lily jumped not realizing any one else was there.

"What is going on?" Remus, Sirius and James asked at the same time. The girls looked at each other before looking back at the Marauders **(A/N: I really don't classify Peter as a Marauder because he's just a tag-a-long and betrays them in the end. Sorry to all Pettigrew fans)**. Dumbledore had never told them not to share what they were doing.

"We're looking for information on the Angel's Seal. Dumbledore got us out of detention by making us do this," Liandra replied resisting the urge to throw the useless book in her lap out of the window.

"The Angel's Seal?" James asked suddenly awake. He weaved in and out of the piles of books and took a seat beside Lily.

"What do we know?"

"Not much," Lily answered watching the other boys join them. "We know that it was most likely created by the four founders of Hogwarts and is somewhere in the school."

"We also know that it holds legendary and unknown power and can only be opened by pure souls, though we aren't sure if the souls are pure good souls, or pure evil souls. Nothing's been specified," Liandra added.

"We'll help you," James said resolutely picking up one of the books closest to him. Lily smiled thankfully grasping yet another book from the seemingly everlasting piles. This was going to be a long night.

--------------------

**The one translation for the Spanish that Lily doesn't describe: **_The Angel's Seal created by Hogwarts four founders and located in said school is a powerful disc. Holding the power of complete knowledge, it is said to aid the headmasters and headmistresses in their decisions regarding the good of the school. The Seal is said to be located in the head's office awaiting the time when it is needed and opened by the headmaster or headmistress._


	4. The Plot Thickens

-

Lily woke up first the sun from the open common room curtains blinding her. She turned and buried into the warmth beside her.

_Wait,_ she thought. _Warmth?_ Her eyes fluttered open again and she took in her surroundings. She was curled up next to James, spooned against his body and his arms wrapped around her slim waist. They had fallen asleep in the common room doing research the night before. Lily groaned deciding it was too early. James shifted slightly and Lily looked up into his half-lidded hazel eyes. Some one else groaned breaking Lily's gaze. Alaura was awake. She rolled over on the couch she and Sirius had ended up sharing and fell with a squeak and a crash to the floor. Lily grinned as she also rolled over, though more carefully than Alaura and with the support of James' arms around her middle, so she was facing away from James but still in his embrace. It seemed too right to break.

Alaura's squeal had woken Sirius, who instead of watching Alaura and making sure she was okay, was watching Lily and James who seemed perfectly comfortable looking like a couple.

"Did something happen last night that I don't know about?" Alaura looked at him confused before following his line of vision to Lily and James.

"When did you two become all coupley?" Lily blushed.

"I'm comfortable," she grumbled. James, in turn, buried his face in her hair.

_It smells slightly of apples_, he thought, subconsciously hugging Lily closer to his body. Lily sighed both in resignation and contentment. **(A/N: Talented isn't she!)**

"As much as I hate to say this we should probably get cleaned up and head down to breakfast," she said moving to sit up.

"No," James replied pulling her back down to him.

"James!" Lily exclaimed struggling against him.

"Lily!"

"We really have to go!"

"But I want to stay!"

"Its our best morning!"

"Huh?" Lily sighed again but stopped struggling.

"Double charms and transfiguration."

"Well why didn't you just say so? I'm not missing out on such an amazing morning of dullness," he said sarcastically.

"You can't afford to skip the class, James." Alaura and Sirius watched with amusement as James and Lily argued like a married couple.

"What time is it?" Liandra asked groggily interrupting Lily and James.

"Damn it all," Alaura mumbled more to herself than anyone else, but Sirius heard. He laughed.

"You and me both," he replied cheekily.

"Time for breakfast," Lily said resolutely yanking herself out of James' warm embrace. "I am going to go take a shower and change. I will meet you _back down here_ in about ten," she finished quickly floating books after her. James sighed straightening up.

"Well Jamsie my boy, I would like to take the honours of being the first of us to snag one of the lovely ladies," Sirius said motioning to where Lily had disappeared just seconds before.

"Ha! Lils hasn't said anything yet, dear Sirius. Though if some one went up there now she'd probably go all red in the face. Tomato time!" Alaura replied grinning.

"Alaura's right. I haven't snagged any one… yet."

"That's the spirit!" Sirius cheered.

"Just ask her James. She'll say yes," Liandra suggested quietly. James ran a hand through his unruly black hair.

"Thanks Liandra, thanks."

--------------------

Breakfast was a quiet affair, every one was tired and lost in their own thoughts. Lily dropped her fork down onto her plate with a loud clang.

"What?" Alaura groaned holding her head but Lily wasn't listening. She was to busy packing things back into her bag.

"I'll see you in charms," she said a little too cheerily rushing out of the hall. James watched her go.

"Tell her!" Remus, Liandra, Alaura and Sirius all exclaimed at once. James ignored them turning back to his barely touched eggs.

--------------------

Lily rushed through the hallways of Hogwarts. Why did this all seem so familiar? Down to the dungeons she ran, pushing unsuspecting Slytherins out of her way without a thought as to who they could be. She reached the picture of fruit that led to the kitchens pausing only a moment to get her bearings before rushing on. She came to a carved wooden door. Across from the door was a tapestry of an angel. Lily gasped. She had visited this place so often in her dreams. She reached out and touched the tapestry…

"Back again are you?" Lily spun quickly feeling the swish of fabric against her ankles. She looked down and noticed she was wearing a dress. It was the purest of whites and what she guessed was silk. She faced the blonde man in front of her.

"Again?" He nodded.

"Yes again. Have you not been coming every night?" Lily took a second to grasp her surroundings. She was standing in a grassy meadow. The sky was the sheerest of blues and the sun's rays rained down on her giving her a sense of warmth. She was dreaming?

"In my dreams, yes but never when I'm awake." The man nodded.

"You found our tapestry," he said changing the subject abruptly. Lily nodded.

"As you said, I come in my dreams."

"But have you ever been here? We watch over you Lily Evans. We watched you last night as you searched for information on the opening to our world. You will not find it in books. Only the one destined to open the Seal will be able to." Lily took a moment to absorb everything the man had said.

"Let me guess," she began, her voice slightly sarcastic, "you can't tell me who that is, can you?" The man smiled sadly.

"When the smart ones come I wish we could." This was a new voice. Lily's eyes widened as she watched a single ball of white light turn into a young girl. The girl's eyes were lavender, her hair dirty blonde. She looked about eleven, and was wearing a dress similar to Lily's.

"We've been guarding the Seal for years. Unfortunately the time has come where we are not as safe as we could be. Our very existence is threatened by extinction, Lily. The Seal must be opened."

"Why?" She didn't bother asking how the girl knew her name, that didn't matter. The girl sighed, shaking her head.

"That information is located within your world and therefore we are unable to tell you this. I know, it is not fair. Why don't we just tell you and then you won't have to look for the details in the many books of your world. If we tell you verbally, we run the risk of some one else figuring everything out before." Lily looked confused but before she could say anything, she was whisked away into darkness. She didn't know where she was but she couldn't see a thing. Her dress was gone and she was once again dressed in her Hogwarts robes. She spun in a slow circle looking for movement.

_My wand!_ She reached into her robes. It wasn't there.

_Great,_ she thought. _How am I supposed to protect myself if anything attacks?_ As if on cue, she was bowled over from behind, knocking the wind out of her. She groaned as she rolled over facing upwards on what she could only guess was stone. The uneven-ness and slimy feel of the surface gave it away more than the stiffness and solid feeling. Out of the corner of her eye Lily saw something glint. If you asked her how, she wouldn't be able to tell you but the glint streaked towards her chest. She screamed…

And sat bolt upright in a white room. She was in the hospital wing. James was the first one to come speeding through the closed curtains at her scream. Alaura and Liandra weren't too far behind.

"Lily, what happened?" James asked but Lily wasn't listening. She was too busy going over what had happened. It was a dream, of that she was sure, but it was so much different than her dreams at night. Those ones always ended happy. This one ended with – what she was sure of as – her getting killed.

"Lils?"

--------------------


	5. Destiny Bends

**Recap:**

"Lily, what happened?" James asked but Lily wasn't listening. She was too busy going over what had happened. It was a dream, of that she was sure, but it was so much different than her dreams at night. Those ones always ended happy. This one ended with – what she was sure of as – her getting killed.

--------------------

"Lils?"

"I…I don't really know," Lily said looking into the concerned hazel of James' eyes.

"You didn't show up for charms or transfiguration and we got worried," Liandra said coming to stand opposite James who had one of Lily's hands grasped tightly in his own.

"How… how long…"

"A couple of days," Liandra replied gently. Lily's eyes widened.

"Days?" The awe was evident in her voice.

"Miss Evans, you're awake," Madam Pomfrey said bustling in with Remus not to far behind. Lily smiled slightly.

"We were quite worried about you, after all. Professor McGonagall found you in the dungeons unconscious. We wondered what had happened. There weren't any lumps to show you were hit over the head. So I pose the question to you Miss Evans. What on earth happened to make you fall unconscious?" Lily's face was completely sober. She couldn't exactly remember.

"I… One minute I was looking at the angel tapestry beyond the kitchens, and the next I'm here." She left out the part about her dream fearing Madam Pomfrey would make her stay here longer than she wanted. Lily had always hated hospitals.

"Well my dear, eat this and then you may go." Lily grinned as Madam Pomfrey handed her a piece of chocolate. It was her heal-all. The nurse left and James helped Lily out of the hospital bed.

--------------------

"Lily? What happened? When you went unconscious?" Liandra asked. It had been two weeks since the initial incident and Liandra, Alaura, Sirius, James and Remus had given her a chance to get over the initial reaction and possible denial with it. Though she was thankful for their wait, Lily knew these questions were inevitable. She quickly took a look around the Gryffindor common room to make sure no one was listening before beginning.

"I'm still not completely sure. Honestly, one minute I was in the dungeon hallway and the next I was dreaming."

"What did you dream?" Lily sighed.

"I was in a really nice and peaceful meadow with this guy. We were both all dressed in white. We got talking about the Angel's Seal and about how only one person can open the Seal." She paused shaking her head. "Then a little girl showed up and we talked about how the information to open the Angel's Seal was located in some of the school's books." Alaura snorted.

"Such a big help." James was shaking his head.

"Why did you scream?" Lily's eyes widened in fear.

"I…" The floor had suddenly become very interesting to Lily. "That wasn't the end of the dream," she whispered. James, sitting on one side of her, wrapped a reassuring hand on her arm. Alaura caught this and despite the seriousness of the situation winked at Sirius.

"We, the girl, the man, and I, were talking about why they couldn't verbally tell me where all of the information was located in the school. The girl said that if they were to tell me right then and there, they ran the risk of someone else finding out. Don't ask me how, I couldn't tell you," Lily said watching Liandra's mouth open, a question no doubt on her friend's tongue. Liandra closed her mouth with a snap.

"Then it was pitch black. I couldn't see anything or hear anything. Something hit me from behind, knocking the wind out of me. When I rolled over something glinted and came slashing towards me…" Lily left the sentence open ended knowing her friends would put two and two together.

"It killed you," James whispered. His voice came out pained. Lily faced him head on willing him to look at her instead of his knees. When he did, the extent of the emotions in James' eyes threw her for a loop. While there was concern written all over his face, there was another partially hidden emotion.

"It killed me," Lily confirmed softly. James turned away running a hand through his unruly hair, a habit that annoyed Lily and yet, she loved it all the same.

"Is this the first time?"

"That I dreamed me dying? Yes."

"What changed?" Lily played with her hands for a moment before answering.

"I don't know," she answered in complete honesty.

"Did something scare you? That's usually…" James began but Lily shook her head enthusiastically.

"I was perfectly content." There was a short pause.

"Are you scared?"

"Yes. Most people would be," she replied staring into the dancing flames in the fireplace. James looked at his watch.

"I'm going to head to bed. You should think about doing the same," he said standing.

"I won't sleep." James looked down at her then around the room. Alaura and Liandra had dragged Sirius and Remus out of hearing distance long before giving James and Lily a chance to work things out. The rest of the Gryffindors had gone to bed.

"Why not?" Lily sighed heavily, partially out of frustration.

"I'm scared James. I want to sleep, hell, I need to sleep but I'm terrified. Terrified of what I'll see this time. What if… what if it's not me I see?" James sat down again looking Lily straight in the eye.

"What if McGonagall gives you a bad mark on your next test? What if Voldemort attacks the school? What if Dumbledore tells us he has to expel us because of our pranks? What if we don't know what is going to happen? We don't know, Lils, that's why 'what if' is a pointless question to ask. You may not even have the dream again," James reasoned. Lily sighed. James was right.

"Alright. I'll see you in the morning," Lily said heading towards the girl's staircase. "And James?" She paused at the bottom of the stairs. "Thanks."

"No problem."

--------------------

Alaura and Sirius were out past curfew; neither cared. The night was mild for the Hogwarts' September as the two sat beside the lake watching the squid do lazy laps.

"D'you think they've told each other yet?" Alaura asked looking up at the Gryffindor tower.

"I hope so," Sirius replied not taking his eyes off of the squid. "Wouldn't it be nice to be that carefree?" Alaura smiled gently.

"Nope." Sirius looked taken aback.

"No?"

"What would be the point of living? There would be no excitement and nothing to do." Sirius considered this for a moment.

"How true," he said finally. They were silent.

"What if Lily's dreams are prophetic? What if she really will die?"

"She will eventually," Sirius replied trying to lighten the mood.

"But that'll be old age. What if Lily is really gunna be stabbed?" Sirius faced Alaura watching the moonlight reflect off of the smooth planes of her face.

"We don't know, 'Laura, and hopefully we never will."

--------------------

"This wasn't supposed to happen." Lily looked up from her crown of wildflowers. The blond man and lavender-eyed girl were back.

"What wasn't supposed to happen?"

"You weren't supposed to fall in love."

"What?" Lily asked offended.

"You weren't supposed to fall in love."

"Who ever said I was in love?"

"We can feel it."

_James_, Lily thought.

"Love is a very strong emotion."

"Never underestimate its power."

"Why?" Lily asked looking back down at the flowers in her lap. "Why was I not supposed to fall in love?"

"As beautiful as love is, sometimes destiny does not give us a mate. You have something or done something incredible, Lily Evans, for destiny to change its plans for you."

"I really love him?" Lily asked, more herself than her companions, jumping subjects. The girl took a seat on the grass beside the redhead.

"What do you think?" Before Lily could respond, there was a slight tug at her consciousness telling her she was about to wake up.

"You make your own choices Lily, remember that. The choices _you_ make are important and you have taught and proven something to us. Destiny bends."

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	6. Echoes of Angels

When Lily walked into the Great Hall the next day her friends were already half way through their breakfast.

"Sleep well?" James asked being the first one to notice her. Lily nodded with a slight smile.

_You swore to yourself that you would tell him you love him this morning. Especially after what that girl told you last night in your dream_.

"Lily?" She was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't realize that Alaura was talking to her.

"Sorry. I've got a lot on my mind." She turned to James. "Can I talk to you before divination?" James nodded, his mouth full of food. Lily turned back to Alaura and Liandra.

"What did you do last night? You weren't in bed when I tucked myself in," Lily said. Liandra blushed and Alaura smiled in memory.

"I went for a walk by the lake," Alaura replied.

"Just a walk, 'Laura? I thought our…" Alaura clapped a hand over Sirius' mouth muffling his next words.

"Gentlemen don't kiss and tell," Alaura hissed removing her hand from Sirius' mouth. He was quiet for only a moment before launching into a full tale of his night's events. Alaura threw her hands up in defeat.

"It just goes to show you that he's not a gentleman," Lily smirked.

"Lils? You wanted to talk?" James laid a hand on Lily's arm.

"Yeah," Lily replied quickly finishing off her piece of toast and following James out of the hall

* * *

How Lily was going to tell James she loved him she wasn't sure, but she knew she had to. Walking through the halls of Hogwarts talking and laughing like old times did little to calm her already raging nerves. How do you tell your best friend for years that you'd fallen head over heels for him?

"What did you want to talk about?" James asked. This was the moment Lily had been waiting for.

"Us," Lily replied refusing to meet James' eyes. She therefore missed the emotion passing over his face. James swallowed over the lump in his throat.

"What about us?"

"Well, over the last little while you've been a huge help not only as my confidante but also as a shoulder to cry on and just an over all friend. Last night I realized that there is something I really need to tell you." She looked around the corridor. Anywhere but at _him_. When she didn't continue, James prompted,

"And?"

"And I… I've fallen, James… hard…" That was all James needed to hear. The sound of his shattering heart overwhelmed his senses blocking out Lily's next words.

"James? James? Say something, please." Her melodic voice, the one that haunted his dreams, slammed him back to the present.

"What's his name?"

"What?"

"The guy you've fallen for. What's his name?" Lily looked at him as if he'd grown six extra heads.

"His name is James Potter."

"What house? What year?"

"Gryffindor sixth year," Lily replied a note of suspicion creeping into her voice.

"Does he play quidditch?"

"He's a seeker for the house team." James started to pay attention now. A seeker. James would have played against him.

"The house again, sorry."

"Gryffindor." James looked at Lily strangely.

"And his name?"

"James Potter." James took a moment to process the information.

"But Lily, that's not possible." Then it hit him along with Lily's book bag.

"You're talking about me."

"Yes, James."

"Let me get this straight. You love me?"

"Against my better judgement, yes. I love you."

"Honest and true?"

"Couldn't be more."

Wow…" Lily played with her hands nervously.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you. I knew that you would never feel the same. I knew…" She was abruptly silenced in the only way a brain-numb James knew how. He kissed her. It was soft and gentle, just like Lily had imagined.

"I love you, too, Lily, I love you, too."

* * *

Lily and James had decided not to tell their friends right away, especially since Remus and Liandra didn't have divination with Lily, James, Alaura and Sirius. Instead they suffered through two hours of divination and one of History of Magic before sleepily wandering to the Great Hall for lunch. Liandra and Remus were already seated, Remus' arm too far away from him to be at his side. Lily winked at Alaura before sitting across from Liandra. James sat on her right, wrapping an arm around her waist and using the other to spoon food onto both of their plates. Liandra looked inquisitively at Lily who, though still half asleep from the previous class, was grinning broadly.

"Did something happen between the two of you that we should, I don't know, know about?" As tempting as it was to come up with a witty retort James decided to let Lily explain. And explain she did going into full detail of how James was asking who she was talking about when she told him she loved some one and ending by stating that they were dating.

"Finally!" Alaura yelled making the Great Hall go silent.

"Nothing interesting, people. Just the news that Evans and Potter are dating," Sirius said making Lily and James blush. The hall immediately broke out into discussion as Lily shot daggers at the black haired man beside James.

"What? They were bound to find out sooner or later. I just sped up the process," Sirius said defensively.

"I would have preferred later! Better start sleeping with one eye open, Black!" Lily hissed angrily.

"Lily, sweetheart, calm down," James said pulling the fuming redhead closer to his body and dropping a kiss on her forehead. Lily calmed immediately much to Alaura and Liandra's surprise.

"Too bad we didn't think of that earlier. I wouldn't have half as many bruises as I do now!" Alaura exclaimed getting the laugh she had desired.

* * *

The afternoon passed quickly, too quickly in Lily's eyes. She was sitting, quite comfortably, learning up against one of the armrests of an overstuffed couch in the common room with a book of her favourite fairy tales. Her feet were in James' lap where he was rubbing her ankle gently while concentrating on his wizard's chess game against Remus.

"Knight to D6," James said watching the rider take out Remus' bishop.

"Lucky shot mate. I missed that." Lily grinned as she flipped the page to one of her favourite stories. The story, entitled _On Angel's Wings_, described the challenges a young angel was faced with as he searched the earth for a worthy person to release the angels' hidden power trapped inside an ancient seal. The story sounded familiar some how but Lily shrugged it off thinking she had read the story so many times she could probably recite it.

"Check mate," James said grinning at a stunned Remus.

"Jamie won?" Sirius asked entering the common room with Alaura's books tucked under one arm. "Was Remus sleeping through the match?" He ducked as a scarlet pillow came flying at his head.

"Where's Alaura?" Lily asked.

"She and Liandra are still in the library."

"What for?"

"Something about research, I don't know. It was bad enough entering that place with all of those… books." Sirius shivered. Lily flopped her head back on the armrest with a groan throwing an arm over her eyes.

"Lily?" It was Tanice, Alaura's little sister.

"Mm hmm?"

"What are you reading?" Lily looked down at the temporarily forgotten book on her stomach.

"Fairy tales," she replied with a small smile. Tanice looked interested.

"You have a big book of fairy tales? I've only read angel legends, never any fairy tales," she said looking longingly at the gold and silver swirls adorning the cover.

"Here then. Borrow mine," Lily offered closing the book and handing it to the small girl. Tanice grasped the book gleefully to her chest as Alaura and Liandra came through the portrait hole. Alaura did not look happy.

"Black!" she roared. The common room went silent.

"Cook!" Sirius yelled back.

"What the hell is your issue?! You can't just take my books!" Alaura's face was contorted in anger.

"Why not?"

"Why not?" Alaura said disbelievingly.

"Why can't I just take your books?" Sirius' voice was quieter than Alaura's but still as cocky as ever. Lily and Liandra were staring, shocked. They knew first hand what Alaura was capable of when angry.

"I'll tell you why not!" Alaura roared making half of the common room cringe at her volume. "You scared the shit out of me! I though those bastard Slytherins had taken them and then I would never get the damned books back! Those are my course books! I need those to pass the year!"

"But the Slytherins didn't take them. They're right here all sorts of safe," Sirius replied pointing to a pile of books at his feet. Alaura glared at him levitating her book up with the first year charm. The piled into her arms.

"I'd start sleeping with both eyes open Black! With Lily and I having a death wish for you, I would think you wouldn't live past Monday!" With that she stormed up the girl's stairs into the sixth year dorms.

"Nice going Sirius. You're the only one that gets her that upset," Lily said shaking her head. Sirius shrugged nonchalantly.

"She can't stay mad at me that long," he replied easily.

"Cocky much?" Lily said raising an eyebrow. Sirius grinned. James shook his head at his best friend.

"She's right though Sirius. You're the only one that upsets Alaura that much."

"Sure, now that she's your girlfriend you pick her side."

"I'm not taking any sides!" James said indignantly. Lily sat up adjusting her robes around her.

"Some one has to go up and talk to her," she said looking towards the girls' stairs. Liandra sighed following Lily's line of vision.

"I'll go Lils," she said making her way towards the stairs.

"You sure you want to go alone?" Lily asked in reply, worry marring her features.

"I'll be fine," Liandra assured smiling at all of the boys before continuing up the stairs. Lily sighed.

"I feel so bad for letting her go alone," she whispered, "but I don't want to leave." James smiled gently at her.

"Come on. Let's go for a walk." At Lily's are-you-nuts-we're-sure-to-get-caught look, James rolled his eyes.

"We're prefects. We can use the excuse that we're patrolling," he explained holding out a hand for him. Lily took the offered hand and James pulled her up.

"We'll see you guys," she called back to Sirius and Remus as James led her through the portrait hole into the dark of the castle.

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**A/N: I know I should have put this earlier than the sixth chapter, but I wanted you guys to know this. I was sifting through my account because my computer was being stubborn for a few months and wouldn't allow me to sign in and I noticed a lot of people who read this story and it's sequel Possession, which I had taken out of my account. Therefore, I decided, because you guys are so amazing in giving me support for all of this story and through Possession, I'll repost it. After all, it seems like you guys enjoyed my writing.**

**Now, nothing is actually different. I felt I needed to stay true to my original plot, but… the main point?**

**This is for you guys. You've… I can't even find the words.**

**Thanks from the bottom of my heart.**

> --Kavi Leighanna


	7. Castle Darkness

**Warning: extreme fluff alert!**

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The castle was silent, almost eerily so as Lily and James wandered the halls aimlessly. The only sounds through the halls were their footsteps and voices the odd time they talked to each other.

"Sirius amazes me sometimes," James was saying.

"Amazes you? He just annoys me," Lily answered shooting James a look that clearly said are you mad.

"You and Alaura. Liandra doesn't seem to have a problem with him," James shot back. Lily, in a very childish movement, stuck her tongue out at him. James only grinned making Lily's knees go weak.

"You don't play fair," she said as they passed a statue of Godric Gryffindor at the end of the second floor, west wing corridor. James gripped her waist pushing her back gently until she hit the wall.

"I don't? Well I might just need to be taught a lesson," James responded as his lips descended onto hers. Oh, how she loved this boy and, no matter how she teased him, he was quite good at kissing a girl senseless. Footsteps sounded at the end of the corridor and they broke apart quickly before continuing down the marble staircase to the Entrance Hall and taking the east ground floor corridor, opposite the dungeons and the Slytherin common room.

"Potter," spat a voice behind them. Both prefects turned ready to hand out a detention to whichever unlucky Slytherin was behind them. James grinned when he identified the greasy haired sixth year as Severus Snape.

"Snivellus!" Snape sneered at the hated nickname the Marauders had had the grace to give him. Lily, as much as she really loathed Snape, didn't want to see any sort of fight or argument this late at night.

"Detention, Snape. You're out after curfew," she said lazily. "I'll talk to McGonagall tomorrow to see if she can come up with something particularly nasty for you." With that she grasped James' hand and dragged him away from the stunned Snape.

"If you're going to go back there…" Lily began stopping out of sight and earshot of the sneering sixth year.

"I'm quite content where I am," he interrupted placing her gently up against the wall again and placing his lips on hers.

_Damn_, she thought as his tongue brushed her bottom lip asking for entrance. She gave it without a second's hesitation moaning softly as his lithe tongue slipped into her mouth. When he released her minutes later she wasn't sure if her legs would move properly and was therefore forced to ask James for help.

"James, dear, it seems you have been able to kiss me to the point of immobility. Be a dear and help me back to the common room." James laughed but nonetheless helped her back to the Fat Lady and the Gryffindor common room where he then scooped her up into his arms and carried her to her dormitory.

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**And that, my friends is as fluffy as it gets. This was for the fluff lovers out there, hope you enjoyed!**


	8. Sweet Dreams and Evil Nightmares

September turned into October and as Halloween approached Lily had not had any more dreams of death.

"Lily? What happened to my chess set?" James called from his dormitory on October thirtieth. Lily grinned. They always acted like a married couple.

"Its either in your beside table or my trunk," she called back. James came down the stairs a couple of minutes later, the sleeves of his white Oxford shirt rolled up to his elbows showing his tanned, toned arms from quidditch.

"Are you sure? I thought I'd played with Remus last night."

"Yes, you used his set."

"Oh," James said as he disappeared up the girls' stairs. Liandra came down a few minutes later shaking her head.

"Lily, you might want to go help him," she said. Lily brushed past her friend heading up to the dorms. She was stopped, however, half way to her room by a large group of fourth, fifth and sixth year girls. Looking to the centre she found the root of the blockage. James.

"Lily! Thank god! A little help here please?" Lily smiled crossing her arms on her chest.

"Do you have a problem Potter?" James' eyes pleaded with her to help him.

"Lily!" She grinned shoving her way to James. He immediately wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her close, changing his grip to her hips when she pushed her way through the crowd. James spun Lily around as soon as they were shut safely in her dorm, his lips crashing down on hers dispelling any doubts she may have had in regards to their relationship. She would have been perfectly content to stay there, wrapped in his arms forever but unfortunately breathing was still a necessity. Lily broke the kiss being the one that was stunned when the kiss had begun.

"Now, about that chess set," she began, moving away from him towards her trunk. James groaned inwardly at the loss of contact. It was killing him.

_I don't know if I care so much about that anymore,_ James thought referring to the chess set. He moved to the window watching the silent grounds below. Suddenly they weren't so silent as a large carriage showed up out of the sky.

"Lily?"

"What is it now James?"

"What's that?" Lily followed his gaze to the carriage.

"Lily, James! Grab a cloak. Dumbledore wants us on the grounds now," Alaura said in a rush running to her trunk and pulling out her heavy wooden cloak. Lily and James stared dumbfounded.

"Well, what are you waiting for? You two are supposed to lead the house down!" Lily flew to her trunk withdrawing her cloak and throwing it about her shoulders. She grasped James' hand dragging him down the stairs and shoving him towards his staircase and facing the house.

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Lily was quite happy to see that Gryffindor was not the last house to show. Dumbledore spotted them and bustled over.

"Take a stand beside Professor McGonagall," he said motioning James and Lily over towards the stern head of Gryffindor.

"There you are Evans, Potter!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed noticing the two prefects. Before Lily and James could reply, Dumbledore's voice was heard over the now assembled students.

"We will be having some guests stay with us until Christmas. It is my greatest wish that you treat them the same way you treat your Hogwarts classmates." One of the first years squealed directing the school's attention to the carriage Lily and James had seen from Lily's dorm window. A large foot had emerged followed closely by a tree-trunk leg. Dumbledore rushed quickly to aid the emerging – what the students could only guess as – human. The school waited apprehensively as the "woman" and Dumbledore exchanged words.

"Hogwarts," Dumbledore said finally, addressing the students. "Please welcome Madam Maxime ad the Beauxbatons delegation." The students clapped politely watching as thirty students emerged from the carriage.

"Karkaroff?" Madam Maxime asked in a deep French accented voice.

"Has not yet arrived," Dumbledore answered.

"Speak of the devil," James mumbled in Lily's ear lacing his fingers with hers and pointing to the lake. A ship, one that must have shown up during the time the students of Hogwarts were staring at the new arrivals, was now floaing in the centre of the lake.

"Headmaster," Lily called pointing with her free hand at the group of forty or so students and their teacher making their way to the school entrance.

"And a warm welcome to Professor Karkaroff and the students from Durmstrang." Lily's eyes widened in realization and horror.

"That's the Dark Arts school," James whispered in her ear. Dumbledore was beaming at all of the students without saying a word.

"Now, back inside to dinner. Prefects! Please stay and assist our arrivals in the school procedure." Lily waved to Alaura and Liandra mouthing for them to save James and herself a seat before making her way to Dumbledore, James' hand clasped tightly in her own.

"Slytherins and Durmstrang students… two peas in a pod," James murmured making Lily grin.

"Gryffindor and Hufflepuff prefects will be in charge of the Beauxbatons students. Slytherin and Ravenclaw, Durmstrang." Lily wound her way through the other prefects towards the group of semi-terrified looking students. Lily smiled at them.

"Dinner is served in the Great Hall. Come on, I'll show you," she said stepping towards the Entrance Hall.

"Dealing with babies, Evans?" Malfoy leered as she passed him. Lily involuntarily shivered.

"I thought Dumbledore told you to respect…"But James placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Watched the words, Lil. Respect is a big one for Malfoy." Lily faced Malfoy again grinning sarcastically. Malfoy was glaring at the two Gryffindor prefects. The hex was thrown before Lily could really understand what was going on and only years of quidditch and gymnastics put her quick and instinctual reflexes into effect. She threw herself out of the way pulling James with her. She hit the ground, hard, and rolled back to her feet.

"Malfoy!" Professor McGonagall's voice rang across the grounds before Lily and James could draw their wands.

"Twenty points from Slytherin and a month's detention." Lily waved the stunned visitors from both schools to follow her while McGonagall reprimanded Malfoy for using magic against another prefect.

"To your left," Lily said waving, "is the entrance to the dungeons, to your right the first floor corridors. These stairs," she waved at the large staircase, "leads to the upper floors and these doors lead to the Great Hall," she finished as she and James threw open the large doors and the Hogwarts students roared their welcome.

"Gryffindor is the furthest table to the left, then Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff. You're to choose whatever table you would like to sit at," James explained motioning to the four tables in turn. The students took a moment to decide where to sit. All of the Durmstrang students made their way to the Slytherin table and the Beauxbatons students split between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

"Look. There's Alaura and Sirius," James said in Lily's ear pointing to the Gryffindor table and linking arms with her. They headed over threading through students still looking for a place to sit at their tables. Lily plunked down beside Alaura piling pork chop onto her plate.

"Being nice make you hungry, Lily?" Remus teased deciding against making a comment about James' arm, which, it seemed, had become permanently attached to the redhead's waist. Lily glared at him none the less.

"Are you implying that I'm not nice the rest of the time, Remus?" Lily responded dangerously. Alaura, seeing the serious danger for Remus kicked Sirius under the table.

"Prank time!" Sirius hissed halting further argument. Alaura and James perked up spinning to face the gleeful looking boy.

"What are we doing?" Alaura asked, her eyes alight with mischief.

"Who are we doing it to?" Lily asked carefully. Sirius shrugged.

"Malfoy? Snape?" Lily's expression of indifference changed slowly into gleeful apprehension.

"We have to come up with something," Alaura said noting the change in Lily's face.

"Sewer rats. We'll make a theme for this year's pranks," Lily answered simply. "Transfigure their goblets into dirty sewer rats." Alaura's eyes widened further, this time with amusement.

"She'd make one hell of a Marauder," James stressed as if he'd said it a hundred times. Sirius brandished his wand.

"Let's do it." Lily withdrew her wand and winked at Alaura. She had something else in mind for Lucius Malfoy. She watched James and Sirius perform the spell and revelled in the screams of the Slytherin students before picking out the blond haired prefect. Lily grinned as she waved her wand at Malfoy's knife carefully bewitching it. It stood at attention before flying at Malfoy's hair cutting it raggedly. Lily watched in awe as the knife took large chunks of his greasy locks. She, however, was not mad enough to want to kill him and therefore had been careful to make sure the knife would not break any skin. The hall was in tears.

"Mr Potter! Mr Black!" McGonagall yelled. Lily jumped, surprised at not hearing her name.

"My office. Now." James was nervous. He had never seen the Gryffindor head this angry. He shot a frightened look at Lily before following Sirius out of the Great Hall.

"Well with tonight's entertainment taken care of, we shall dismiss you all off to bed. Miss Evans? A word?" Lily wandered to the head table noticing the guest students staying seated.

"Unfortunately our head students have fallen ill with a sort of flu. I am asking you to take responsibility and you and Mr Potter to take the position of Head Boy and Girl in their absence."

"What about Madam Pomfrey?" Lily asked resisting the urge to face the other students. Something was telling her the students were staring at her.

"She has done all she can," Dumbledore replied with a sad shake of his head.

"Everything?" James was back from talking with McGonagall looking far less tense than when he had left.

"All she can," Dumbledore confirmed.

"What did you want us to do?" Lily asked.

"Professor Karkaroff and Madam Maxime have returned to their respective schools having immediate issues to deal with. Their students will be staying in the east wing guest suites for the night. I am asking you to show them to their rooms." Lily nodded turning to face Hogwarts' guests. She wasn't surprised to see them all staring at her. She smiled.

"You will be staying at this school tonight as your headmaster and headmistress have some pressing duties to attend to. Miss Evans and Mr Potter will lead you to the east wing where the guest dormitories are located." Smiling again, Dumbledore motioned for the students to go. James and Lily walked through the two centre tables and out of the Great Hall. The students followed as Lily and James mounted the sweeping staircase going the opposite way than they would to go to Gryffindor Tower.

"McGonagall gave Sirius and I a week of detention," James said almost gleefully. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons' students were not talking amongst themselves. Instead they were listening to every word the Gryffindor prefects were saying.

"Only a week?" Lily replied in awe.

"Only a week. No house points taken either," James continued.

"What does that bring your grand total to?"

"Two thousand six hundred forty-five detentions in six years," James answered proudly.

"And Sirius?"

"Two thousand six hundred thirty-seven including the week with McGonagall," James replied.

"Still less than you," Lily said a note of pride slipping into her voice. James laughed.

"You should have seen Sirius in McGonagall's office!"

"He called her Minnie again, didn't he," Lily groaned. James grinned making Lily's knees go weak.

"He did." Lily had to stop and lean against the wall as she laughed.

"And he's still alive?" James nodded. Lily shook her head. It was only a matter of time before Professor McGonagall did something drastic to stop Sirius from calling her the abominal name. They arrived at four large pictures on either side of the hall. Lily stopped and turned to face the other students that crowded around her. She noticed the girls from both schools giving James flirty looks. She resisted the almost overwhelming urge to hex them all into oblivion.

"The Durmstrang dormitories are on the left, Beauxbatons on the right. Girls, follow James down the hall there and boys follow me," Lily said waving the girls further down the hall.

"Durmstrang girls over here!" Lily heard James yell. She held in a smile.

"Durmstrang over there for a moment please," Lily said smiling sweetly. The boys with the Durmstrang crests on their robes moved immediately.

"The password to your dorms is Helping Hands," she told the Beauxbatons boys. They nodded. Lily turned to the picture behind her of a prim looking woman in a pale blue dress who was dozing slightly on her feet.

"Marie?" Lily asked gently waking up the picture.

"Lily? You haven't been around here for a long time! What brings you?"

"As much as I would love to stay and chat, Marie, I'm showing these boys their dormitory. Helping hands," Lily murmured. In reply the portrait swung forward opening into a well furnished room.

"This is your common room. Your beds are the three doors on the left. The bathroom is the door furthest to the right," Lily said pointing at each of the doors in turn. "Now, breakfast starts at eight tomorrow morning." Lily turned on her heel and left adding an extra swagger to her step. She felt the eyes of the male students on her back as she left the portrait. She resisted the urge to giggle though Marie giggling as she swung shut only made it harder.

"Now," Lily said turning to the other boys and making her way to the portrait across from Marie showing a grim looking young woman dressed all in black.

"Back again?" Lily glared.

"Not staying long if I can help it," she replied her voice just as cold before turning back to the enthralled boys behind her.

"Your password is Challenging Destiny." After saying the password and glaring as the frame swung forward somewhat reluctantly. She stalked into the wide room and took a deep breath before turning with a smile to face the guests telling them the same thing she had to the Beauxbatons boys. She left the room in the same manner meeting James in the hall. She had just snapped the portrait shut when James swept her into his arms and carried her the entire way to Gryffindor Tower.

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"You guys have been gone for way over an hour," Alaura said immediately noticing Lily and James. She refrained, however, from making a comment of the way James had swept Lily into the room and dropped her onto the best chair in front of the fire before scooping her up again and placing her on his lap. Lily tried to ignore the blissful feeling of James' lips on her neck, she really did, but her eyes dropped shut, zoning out the rest of the room as his wickedly talented lips and tongue brushed over the ivory column.

"James," she whispered hoarsely. He stopped.

"Did you see the way those boys were looking at you?" he asked before fastening his lips on her neck again. Lily smiled. So he had noticed too.

"Those girls weren't any better," she murmured in reply. The urge to moan was getting stronger and he sparked desire into her eyes. She tucked that desire into a little box to be released later as she reluctantly but forcefully withdrew herself from James' arms. He watched her stand and turn to face him, her desire clearly evident in the darkened emerald pools, and knowing his held an answering heat.

"I'm going to bed," she whispered and he nodded knowing she meant she was tired. It had been a full day and, as much as he hated to admit it, he was tired too.

"Good night, love. Sweet dreams," James said pulling her down and placing a soft kiss on her forehead. She wandered slowly up the stairs, grasping her pyjamas and meandering into the bathroom intent on having a shower.

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When she emerged half an hour later Alaura was sitting on her bed looking none too pleased with something.

"Those lovely Beauxbatons _guests_ locked Liandra, you and me in here," she said motioning to the already asleep figure.

"Why?" Lily bit out afraid of the answer.

"James, Sirius and Remus, I suppose." Lily stomped to her trunk throwing it open and withdrawing her wand.

"They took ours," Alaura explained when Lily shot her a puzzled look. She was tired and Lily could tell. She didn't want to go down and fight them physically. This only made Lily's eyes flare more with suppressed anger.

"I'll be right back." She stomped down the stairs noticing James was looking thoroughly terrified sitting in the same chair she had left him in with one of their so called guests on his lap. Sirius was looking quite content with his arms around two who were sitting on the couch with him. Remus, looking as indifferent as he always did when approached by any girl other than Liandra, was talking animatedly to a nice looking Beauxbatons guest and therefore Lily didn't really pay attention to him. James looked up and saw her, his eyes growing even wider with terror as their eyes locked. He renewed his so far futile efforts to get the blond off of his lap.

"You have all of two seconds to explain yourselves before I jinx you all into the middle of the next era!" Lily screeched. She vaguely heard a fourth year murmur something about her legendary temper. They were about to find out just how legendary and feared her temper was.

"It is one thing to stare at another girls boyfriend. It is another to lock his girlfriend in her dorm!" Even James cowered at Lily's tone and expression.

"_Accio _wands," Lily said easily watching with a cold smile as the wands, located in various places around the room, zoomed to land at her feet.

"You are guests in this castle and whether you are here or at home there are rules that need to be observed." Were it anyone else, the girls would have probably laughed and continued flirting, but Lily made a scary picture when mad. "One is the curfew rule which you have already broken, being here instead of in your common room. The other is etiquette. You. Don't. Steal. Another. Girl's. Boyfriend." James, using Lily as a distraction, placed the terrified female that was on his lap onto the chair and had discretely woven his way through all of the girls to stand behind the terrifying redhead he could proudly say he loved.

"Lily, honey, breathe," he said wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. He knew efforts to calm the raging redhead in this mood were futile and therefore decided against attempting it. Lily raised her wand pointing it at the girl James had removed from his lap. Starting with her, Lily did some of the fastest spell work the Gryffindor students had ever seen, leaving half of the girls in the full body bind and the other half in the leg locker curse. She looked satisfied with her work.

"Lil? How are we going to get them to their dorms?" James asked watching the girls in the leg locker curse hop to the portrait hole in an attempt to run from Lily.

"Mobilius corpus," Lily intoned watching as the paralysed figures of the other girls floated up and ahead of Lily as she walked purposefully out of the Fat Lady. Stepping into the corridor outside of the entrance to Gryffindor Tower she noticed a handful of the male students from Beauxbatons looking horrified at being noticed by the same girl they had heard yelling at the top of her lungs.

"James!" Lily yelled. James came running out of the portrait hole and noticing the predicament the Beauxbatons males. Lily had dropped the girls on the stone floor and her wand was pointed at the boys.

"Lily! Don't!" James rushed to her side pushing her hand down so the wand pointed at the floor instead of the belts of the cowering male students. Lily's breath was heaving her anger overpowering her rational mind.

"Mr Potter, Miss Evans, what is going on here?" Professor McGonagall strolled toward the newly appointed Head Girl and Boy.

"Our guests," Lily forced out not taking anger-filled eyes from the group in front of her, "decided to pay us a visit after curfew." McGonagall's eyes flickered to the petrified girls on one side and the shaking males on the other.

"I will escort them back to their dormitories. You two, to bed." With that she freed the paralysed girls. Lily watched them rush down the hall after the Gryffindor head sneaking frightened glances back at Lily who was still brandishing her wand menacingly.

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Morning came too quickly for Lily, who did feel much calmer than the night before, but the first words out of her roommate Amanda Harrison's mouth cheered her up.

"Halloween ball is tonight!" This was the one thing that got Lily through her Saturday morning of Potions and Divination homework. A whole night of general freedom with James.

"So I'm getting my leg bitten off by a three headed dog on the twelfth, bitten by a poisonous spider on the thirteenth, watching my best friend die on the fourteenth and getting attacked by a giant on the fifteenth," Sirius was saying.

"I don't think I'll die until the twenty-sixth," Alaura replied jotting it down on a piece of parchment while consulting their third year book _Unfogging the Future _and watching Sirius write another gruesome painful happening.

"I'm out of ideas, Lil. How else am I supposed to plot my death for Trelawney? Let me see yours," James said reaching across Lily's potions essay towards two rolled parchments where she had written her death for Divination. Lily slapped his hand playfully tucking the two rolls safely in her bag, away from prying eyes. She turned back to her essay on moonstone uses in poisons pulling her textbook closer as her quill sped across the parchment. She had completed two rolls of parchment and had started on her third when Alaura snatched her completed two.

"Are you nuts! We're supposed to write one roll and you're on your third!" Sirius looked at Lily snatching one of the completed rolls and grazing over it. Lily shrugged.

"There are a lot of uses for moonstone in poisons," she replied pulling the two rolls back before continuing on her third.

"You are going to help us with our right?" Alaura asked gleefully scribbling another gruesome event. Lily looked at her reproachfully. Alaura and Sirius gave her the puppy dog eyes and Lily felt her resolve melting.

"I will edit them but I'm not helping past that," she said finally. Alaura shifted happily in her seat placing yet another deadly occurrence onto her December list of predictions. She sighed finishing off her essay with a flourish and rolling up the parchment.

"You're done?" Sirius asked a note of awe slipping into his voice. Lily had pulled out her essay for History of Magic on the Salem witch burnings.

"Potions and Divination. I still have Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures to do," she replied easily. She heard James sigh heavily beside her.

"Are they mad?" Sirius asked referring to their teachers.

"Transfiguration and Charms is just practicing. Care of Magical Creatures is two feet of information on centaurs and History of Magic is two rolls on witch burning. Not difficult," Lily shrugged.

"If Lily thinks its not difficult the rest of you are going to find it excruciating," Liandra said approaching the four seated friends and pulling out her own witch burning essay.

"You have just as much as the rest of us," Alaura pointed out smugly. Liandra grinned back.

"Or I would if I hadn't done any of it last night." Alaura grumbled at Liandra's answer turning back to plotting her death for homework.

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James was impatient. He hadn't seen Lily since lunch and checking his watch decided it was five hours too long. She had explained to him that girls needed much more time than boys to get ready for things like balls. She had then followed her dorm mates Amanda Harrison, Dawn Twining, Jessica McClintock, Alaura and Liandra up to the sixth year girl dormitories to prepare for the Halloween ball.

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Lily on the other hand was giggling with Alaura, Liandra and the other sixth years. Amanda, dressed as the muggle television character Buffy from _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ complete with real wooden stake, was applying a shimery shadow to Lily's eyes that matched her skin tone while Dawn, a brown haired sixth year dressed for the occasion as an angel, curled Lily's normally wavy auburn hair into bouncy ringlets. Jessica had opted for sitting on Lily's bed, keeping her filmy gypsy costume spread out around her, gossiping.

"I heard Narcissa, the pretty blond Ravenclaw sixth year, was going with Lucius Malfoy," she said. Lily gasped making Dawn drive the burning iron she was using to curl Lily's hair into the redhead's scalp. Lily didn't seem to notice.

"That really nice girl I worked on that third year Herbology project with?" Lily asked taking a moment reminiscing about the times when she didn't have Herbology with the slimy Slytherins. Jessica nodded then realizing Lily couldn't see her spoke.

"Yes. She seemed really gleeful about it too."

"How could any one be happy dating Malfoy?" Alaura asked but before anyone could reply Amanda and Dawn proclaimed their masterpiece, Lily, complete standing back as Lily swept out of her chair and towards the full-length mirror on the closet door.

"James is going to be speechless," Liandra, dressed as a super model, exclaimed. Lily grinned walking to the door and pulling it open and motioning for the other girls to go first. Amanda and Dawn squealed scurrying out of the door pausing before travelling down a couple of steps just out of sight of their dates. Jessica, Liandra and Alaura followed leaving Lily to bring up the rear. She closed the door and made her way down the stairs behind Alaura. The girls peeled away slowly to their dates until only Liandra and Alaura blocked Lily from James' hungry gaze. Sirius and Remus approached taking Liandra and Alaura, who was only going with Sirius as a "friend" with them as they followed the other three pairs out of the common room leaving Lily and James to have a private moment.

James was struck speechless when he set his eyes on his girlfriend. It amazed him, at times, how much they thought alike. He was dressed as a prince in a white shirt and black pants that Lily had a sneaking suspicion came from his Hogwarts uniform and a Gryffindor red over coat. The golden buttons were left undone and his hair was just as unkempt as ever though it seemed he had at least made an attempt at combing it.

She was dressed as Gryffindor's princess. Her dress was a beautiful red that brought out her hair and hugged all of her upper curves. Some curls had fallen out of the small gold clip Lily had placed in it seconds before she left the room and her golden tiara had been bewitched to sparkle. The accents, in the form of ribbons and a filmy over skirt, of the long-sleeved full-skirted dress were red.

"Very Gryffindor, beautiful," James remarked when he found his voice making Lily blush gracefully.

"And yourself, handsome," she murmured taking the offered arm and allowing him to lead her out of the common room to where Alaura, Sirius, Remus and Liandra were waiting. The six were going to be the last ones to enter the Great Hall where the students were already gathered, and knowing the ball was in full swing. Lily's shoes clicked on the floor.

"Heels love?" James asked knowing how Lily didn't like them. Lily smiled sheepishly.

"Part of being Gryffindor's princess," she replied throwing James a dazzling smile.

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The Great Hall doors were wide open as Lily, James, Sirius, Alaura, Remus and Liandra descended the marble staircase. Liandra and Remus entered first, talking and laughing having some effect on the students gathered in the hall. Alaura and Sirius went next quietly discussing any possible pranks for the up coming months and not caring that no heads had turned to watch their entrance. Lily grasped James' hand, linking her fingers with his and grinning up at him. James squeezed her hand rhythmically as if counting and on the third squeeze they both stepped into the hall turning all heads. Some people were craning their necks to get a look at Hogwarts' super couple. Lily glanced around taking it the awe-struck faces of the guests scattered around the hall. Lily distinctly heard a wolf-whistle as the hall burst out in applause. James' eyes narrowed as he searched the room for the one that had whistled and Lily was sure that James would put that person in the Hospital Wing if he ever found them.

"James?" Lily started tugging on his hand. James looked at her, his eyes travelling over her face and landing on her lips. Partly to Lily's horror and partly to her pleasure, he lowered his lips to hers. All thoughts were wiped from her mind when their lips met and as James ran his tongue over her bottom lip, her mouth opened automatically to give him entrance to the honeyed cavern of her mouth.

"James," Lily whispered when they broke apart for a breath of air. "They're watching." James' glance was possessive, his expression loving.

"You're mine," he whispered passionately kissing her again, thoroughly and Lily's brain shut down completely, instincts taking over as she was… well… kissed senseless.

--------------------

Lily grinned at the canopy of her four-poster, listening to the giggling of Amanda and Jessica who were discussing the things that had happened at the ball.

"None of us are asleep, gals," Lily heard Alaura's voice travel quietly across the room. She sat up watching the other five figures do the same.

"That was the best!" Jessica exclaimed. Lily grinned wider watching the shadowed form of the blond bouncing on her bed.

"The way James kissed you was so sweet but you should have seen the jealous looks the rest of the boys were sending James! And then there were the ones that the girls were shooting at you!" Amanda added. Lily blushed.

"What did he whisper at you before he kissed you for the second time?" Dawn asked eagerly. This made Lily blush harder. She mumbled something inaudible.

"Missed that," Alaura said smirking. She knew this was embarrassing Lily.

"First, I said that you guys, well, all of the Great Hall, were staring at us. Then he said, with the most possessive look in his eyes, that I was his. Then I got kissed senseless," Lily replied the heat rushing to her face. The other girls laughed gleefully. This was exactly what they wanted to hear.

"And what's going on between you and Sirius, Alaura?" Amanda asked genuinely curious. Alaura blushed, a very interesting feat for some one who didn't get embarrassed at all.

"Absolutely nothing," she answered resolutely though Lily and Liandra heard the slight note of longing in her voice.

"Why were you there with him then? You guys looked pretty enthralled with each other through the entire night," Dawn countered.

"We went as friends," Alaura replied smoothly.

"Alaura…" Lily began. Alaura, though quite smart when it came to academics, seemed to be continually blind to Sirius' obvious feelings for her. She wasn't listening to Lily.

"We were talking about all of the pranks we've pulled in the past," she said. Lily sighed.

"Wow. Too bad. He looked really captivated with you," Jessica said confused. Lily grinned, thankful to Jessica for pointing out this virtually insignificant observation but it was Liandra who spoke.

"Its really obvious the two of you like each other, and not just as friends, Alaura," she said in her quiet way before Alaura could interrupt. "Its only a matter of time before the two of you start dating." Alaura glued a look of offence on her face.

"Me and Black? Not a chance!"

"I'm with Liandra on this, 'Laura," Lily said. "You two are a lot like my parents. They constantly threatened and tormented each other through school but look at how much in love they are now." Alaura didn't have a verbal reply. Instead, she did something Lily would always classify as worse. She, without saying a word, rolled over and tried to go to sleep. Lily followed, feeling quite guilty about what she said.

--------------------

Lily spun around quickly at the sound of her name. The blond man, David she had learned, was kneeled beside the small girl, Tanith **(A/N: Yes I mean Tanith not Tanice)**. Lily rushed over noticing that, for the first time, she had her wand with her. As she got closer to the pair Lily observed that Tanith wasn't breathing.

"Is she…?"

"Dead, no. I don't know what happened though and therefore how long she'll last." That was all Lily got to hear as she was whisked away into the pitch-blackness of the Hogwarts dungeons. Footsteps were approaching quickly. Liandra poked her head around a corner ahead and Lily ran to catch up. Alaura, Sirius, James Remus and Liandra were crowded around the wooden door across from the angel's tapestry. James and Sirius pushed it open as Lily got nearer and she hurtled through the door into the suffocating black. She muttered "lumos" illuminating the tip of her wand. She rotated in a small circle taking in the entire room. It was empty except for a circular disc. The six teenagers crowded around the golden glimmer wordlessly. There were four carvings of animals on the circle: a raven, a hedgehog, a lion and a snake. No words were exchanged as Liandra pulled supplies from the canvas bag on her shoulder. Lily identified most of the ingredients as wiccan instead of the usual potions ingredients. She didn't think anything of it remembering vaguely Liandra mentioning her friend practicing that branch of magic. The door creaked but no one turned being too busy concentrating on the possible opening of the disc in front of them. They began the Portuguese incantation slowly, Lily too focused on the faint glowing to notice each of her friends disappearing one by one. Only when she was yanked away from the heavily glowing disc did she realize that her friends had been secured to the wall opposite. She was dragged roughly further and further away finally feeling herself being chained to the wall. The person that had chained her there was pointing his wand at her friends. A green light emanated from the wand a couple of moments later hitting Sirius as she heard Alaura scream, the sound ringing throughout the room. Remus was next to be hit as Liandra echoed Alaura's scream. Lily looked to Sirius first noticing that he wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing and neither was Remus beside him. Alaura came next screaming in earnest as the light made contact with her chest. Liandra was terrified and it showed in her eyes as the nameless person aimed his wand at her. Lily tried to make a sound but nothing would come out. Liandra was dead as the light hit her right where her heart was located. As the wand tip was turned to James, Lily found her voice again and started screaming his name at the top of her lungs.

"No! James, no!" There was a flash of green light as the unforgivable curse shot at James but it wasn't the lifeless for of James she saw when the light had cleared. Instead she was standing in the cozy living room of a large cottage. James was sitting on the couch reading but looked up as if he had heard her enter.

"Harry's asleep?" While her mind was questioning who on earth Harry was, she nodded her affirmative. He opened his arms to her and she cuddled up to him, loving him more in that moment than she believed she had ever felt. James suddenly scooped her into his arms ad carried her up the stairs. She laid a hand on his shoulder about half way up the stairs stopping him. She heard footsteps and then the door creak open. James set Lily on her feet, his eyes pleading with her.

"Lily, take Harry and go!" James whispered fearfully. "It's Him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off." Lily gave him one last fleeting kiss before rushing into the first room on the left. It was a baby's room, Lily noticed as she rushed to the cradle against the window. Inside the cradle was a one-year-old black-haired, green-eyed boy. A scuffle had broken out downstairs; Lily could hear the curses, hexes and defensive spells that were thrown at James and _him_. She drew the small boy into her arms listening as a high, cold, calculating voice called out the unforgivable killing curse. Lily cringed as the door's hinges shook but refused to cry. She had to think logically… for Harry's sake. She heard the footsteps climbing the stairs and turned towards the room she now occupied. The door was blown off its hinges as the evil… creature, dressed in a hooded, black robe, entered turning to face her.

"Give me the boy," the cold voice drawled.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry," Lily pleaded.

"Stand aside, you silly girl… stand aside now…"

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead –" Lily was swiftly brought back to the Hogwarts dungeons facing a very dead James Potter.

"James!" Lily screamed at the top of her lungs.

--------------------

She sat bolt upright in her bed watching her dormmates rush over to her. Ignoring their concerned questions she bolted out of the girls' dorms racing down the stairs, waking up the sleeping students as she went, and streaking up the boys' staircase to the sixth year dorms. The door swung open before Lily had touched the handle as James stood before her fear creasing his handsome face and flooding his hazel eyes. Taking a split second to register that it was indeed James standing in front of her before throwing herself into his arms. James instinctively wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed into his chest. He stroked the back of her hair carrying her down the stairs into the now fully lit common room. Liandra and Alaura were sitting on the couch in front of the fire moving sideways so that James could fit between them, with Lily on his lap. Jessica and Dawn were sitting in two of the arm chairs murmuring that Amanda had gone to get McGonagall. The Transfiguration teacher had already arrived by the time James had been able to calm Lily enough for her to be capable of coherent speech.

"Lily, honey, what happened?" James asked concerned. He had heard her scream his name from her dormitory earlier. Lily looked up at the Gryffindor head.

"I know where it is," she answered simply. Professor McGonagall's face paled visibly.

"Very well," she said in her thick accent. "We will pay a visit to the headmaster." Lily stood with James behind her, offering his silent support. McGonagall looked at him.

"I believe Miss Evans is quite capable of walking to Professor Dumbledore's office on her own." At Lily's step back and the mutual shaking of both heads, Professor McGonagall sighed motioning them both out of the Fat Lady. Lily paused for a moment remembering that she was only in her pyjamas and didn't have anything on her feet. Alaura silently held up the redhead's slippers and winter robe, he hand tucked tightly into Sirius' who was sitting on the armrest above her. Lily could tell that Alaura knew he hadn't survived Lily's dream.

Lily thanked her silently, telling both of her friends with one gaze that she would tell them everything when she returned from the headmaster's office.

The journey seemed to stretch on and on as Lily snuggled into James, afraid of losing contact and seeing him gone. As they approached the stone gargoyle Professor McGonagall called the password ("sugar quills") and the two students and their teacher mounted the spiralling staircase. The headmaster was waiting for them sitting behind his magnificent desk.

"Miss Evans, Mr Potter, have a seat. Minerva, you do not need to stay if you would prefer to return to your quarters," Dumbledore said. Professor McGonagall left, sensing the hidden command in the kindly headmaster's voice. She shot a concerned look at her second best student to which she received both a verbal and non-verbal thank you.

"Now…" Dumbledore began. Lily turned her eyes to face him and as the twinkling blue eyes of the headmaster and Lily's emerald green met, the headmaster was taken aback – though of course didn't let it show – at the fear that was present in the young student's eyes. He had never seen that magnitude of fear reflected in any one's eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief that whatever she had saw was indeed a dream and not reality or he would have seen more of a blank fear in Lily's eyes.

"I know where the Angel's Seal is," Lily interrupted swiftly. Dumbledore nodded.

"Very good! The question that remains is, can you open it?" Lily looked down at James and her entwined hands.

"I know it involves a Latin incantation and wiccan spell ingredients," she responded with a despaired shrug. Dumbledore beamed at her.

"Good! That is quite the advancement. How do you know this?" Lily didn't grin though the incentive was definitely there.

"If you wanted me to tell you about my dream, Professor, you could have easily asked," she said rather snappily. Her patience was thin. She had just been scared into tears at the thought of losing James and this, coupled with the headmaster's annoying habit of being anything but blunt had left little room for tolerance.

"Blunt as always, Miss Evans, but if I am correct, you do not wish to tell me the whole dream." This was true. She did not want to tell Dumbledore about watching her friends die, nor did she want to try to explain to him the section in which Voldemort had entered what Lily had narrowed down to her and James' house. It usually irked her that the headmaster knew exactly what was going on or what a student wanted but with all of the night's events discussing annoying habits with Dumbledore was not on top of her 'to do' list.

"Professor," she began, "the seal is in the dungeons, further down from the kitchen and across from the tapestry of that angel… where I was found unconscious." These words lit another light bulb in her head.

"By all means, Miss Evans, go and check on the poor dear, though I'm sure her classmates have already notified the nurse," Dumbledore said for ones beating around the bush. Lily shot the headmaster a very thankful look before unintentionally dragging **(A/N: she meant to bring him with her just not drag him)** James towards the Hospital Wing.  
  
.


	9. Christmas Wishes

Sure enough, as Lily burst through the doors of the infirmary she noticed the curtains firmly drawn around one of the beds. Lily rushed straight to that one, poking her head in to find a very white faced Alaura, and Madam Pomfrey bustling around the still form of Tanice Cook. Sirius was there, standing behind the chair Alaura was seated in and Remus and Liandra were waiting off to the side, their arms wrapped around each other.

"She's dead," Madam Pomfrey said sullenly. Alaura dissolved into tears throwing herself backwards into Sirius' waiting embrace.

"No," Lily countered much stronger than she felt. "She's just unconscious. I would suspect would hopping really took a toll on her body." Every one stared at Lily with blank eyes. She sat James down on a chair beside the bed and positioned herself on his lap, keeping one of his hands clasped firmly in her own and taking Tanice's cold hand in her other. Tanice, Tanith. Why hadn't she figured it out before? They were both the same person.

"I'm sorry, dear, but she is very dead. It is habit to deny traumatic things like this and from what Minerva was telling me you've had quite a scare too. Both of these things and especially the one you were put through would lead to denying this," Madam Pomfrey said with a shake of her head and a wave at Tanice. Lily smiled slightly at the elderly nurse.

"My dream is exactly how I know Tanice is not dead though I believe that if I was to tell you why and how I know, you would not believe me," she replied. Madam Pomfrey shot her a reproving look. Lily shook her head. The nurse believed that she was getting Alaura's hopes up when there was no help for the dirty blond haired first year.

"Are you serious, Lily?" Alaura asked carefully.

"No, she's Lily. I'm Sirius," Sirius replied. Alaura shot him a thankful smile as Liandra laughed slightly through her sobs.

"Very serious," Lily answered. Alaura's eyes took on a hopeful light that had left when Madam Pomfrey had pronounced her sister dead.

"Miss Evans, I must protest. Please do not get her hopes up…" Madam Pomfrey began. Lily looked down at the pale lightly glowing face of the first year girl lying lifelessly on the white hospital bed.

"I'm not," Lily assured bluntly interrupting the nurse's sentence. Madam Pomfrey made a sound of frustration before leaving the area muttering something about talking to Professor Tonic about new healing potions as she was running low. Lily was thankful for the break from the fussy medi-witch's presence.

"What do you mean, Lily?" Alaura asked when she heard the Hospital Wing door click shut.

"I've been having dreams about Tanice except she doesn't go by Tanice. She goes by Tanith." Alaura raised a questioning eyebrow at Lily's admission.

"And we're just hearing about this now because…"

"It wasn't important before now and I hadn't figured it out either," Lily said quickly. "She's been helping me with the Angel's Seal legend." She looked up at the reactions of the people around her. Alaura's hopeful eyes were shining with belief, knowing that Lily would never joke at a time like this. James' grip on her waist tightened slightly.

"But you said that you hadn't had any dreams lately," Liandra said worriedly. Lily looked back at Tanice.

"None about any one dying…" she let the sentence taper off, the picture of her five awake companions slumped dead against the wall still fresh in her mind. James looked around the room at all of his friends noticing their fearfully curious faces.

"Would you like to tell us?" Liandra asked softly. Lily's glance travelled to each person in turn.

"I watched you all die." The last word rang through the otherwise silent room. The others didn't say anything, afraid of what Lily was about to explain.

"Tell us," Alaura said much braver than she felt. Lily took a deep breath not taking her eyes off of Tanice, launching into the story of watching Sirius then Remus followed by Alaura and then Liandra and finally James get attacked and killed. The silence that followed Lily's story was almost worse than watching them die. The air was thick with fear and questions. Questions that each one knew the others could not answer.

"But that's not all you saw," Alaura said quietly, watching Lily's eyes flicker with terror as she stopped. Lily sighed before explaining to her best of best friends about the Dark Lord's attack on what she had narrowed down to the house that she and James lived in. Silence followed again, though this silence was broken by the odd sob of Lily or Liandra. Alaura was sitting stunned and obviously terrified, her hand on top of Sirius' that was resting on her shoulder. Sirius was white, all colour drained from his face. The fear that was written across his face and portrayed in his stance probably had something to do with the knowledge that in Lily's dream Alaura had watched him die, and then been killed herself. Remus was gripping Liandra's shoulders silently as tears slipped down Liandra's face.

"I'm sorry, Lily whispered. "I shouldn't have told you." Alaura shook her head.

"It would have killed you from the inside out if you didn't," James answered. Lily leaned back into his embrace letting Tanice's hand fall from hers and watching the small girl's petrified face. The sun was peeking through the high windows casting long shadows across the stone room.

"You should try and get back to sleep, Lil," James said finally as Madam Pomfrey re-entered the room.

"We'll get you a Dreamless Sleep Potion. You'll kill yourself if you don't get any sleep," Alaura suggested standing and heading towards Madam Pomfrey's office. Lily knew as Alaura came back no amount of argument was going to get her out of sleeping. As James picked her up, carrying her up to Gryffindor Tower she could feel her eyelids drooping. She could vaguely remember asking James to stay with her as Alaura thrust the chilly flask into her hand and James set her down on the bed. The blissful darkness of sleep enveloped her moments later as the Dreamless Sleep Potion took effect.

--------------------

Cold November slipped into freezing December and Tanice had neither improved nor deteriorated. Lily had a feeling that he small eleven-year old was suspended in between her meadow world and the world her sister occupied. Christmas was a cheery time as always though Alaura seemed less… there. Lily and Liandra couldn't help thinking that Tanice was the one thing missing from Alaura's Christmas but they did what they could. Most of the school went home for the holidays including, much to Lily and James' relief, their guests from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. It had turned out that Dumbledore had allowed Professor Karkaroff and Madam Maxime send some of their best students to Hogwarts on a sort of exchange program and not for the Triwizard Tournament again much to Lily and James' relief. The only students left in Gryffindor Tower were Sirius, Alaura, Remus, Liandra, Lily, James, and a pair of first years and Tanice's friends, Lucy Penner and Karissa Peters. Christmas morning dawned bright and clear the sun shining brightly into the sixth year dormitories. Lily, Alaura and Liandra climbed sleepily down the stairs and were immediately swept into the arms of the three Marauders waiting to attack their rather large piles of gifts. Lily noticed a rather terrified pair of first years, Lucy and Karissa, standing shyly with gifts piled in their arms. She waved them over.

"Come open presents with us," she said as the shy girls approached. She took each girl's pile and mixed them around with their own as James, a Santa's hat placed precariously on his head, started handing the others to their recipients.

"Sirius, this one's for you from a Wormtail," James said scowling slightly. Sirius scowled also tearing off the wrapping to find an unlabelled box. Upon lifting the lit, he found an old shoe. The room burst into laughter, even Lucy and Karissa giggled softly. The next one went to Lucy from Tanice.

"She's always done her shopping early," Alaura murmured as Lucy tore off the paper revealing a rather large box of chocolate frogs. Lucy blushed.

"I love these. The cards fascinate me," she admitted sheepishly.

"Your parents are muggles?" Lily asked smiling slightly. At the young girl's startled look her smile broadened.

"I was the same way in my first year," she elaborated. Lucy smiled with a twinkle in her eye. Karissa gasped as if realizing something.

"You're the six that constantly torment my sister!" Lily looked confused.

"Who's your sister?" James asked while silently handing Alaura the next parcel.

"She's only a third year and I've always thought she was placed in the wrong house. Kristiina Peters in Slytherin." Lily tapped a finger against her chin in thought.

"I tutored her in Charms once. Flitwick and Dumbledore asked me to watch over her because she was a muggle-born witch in a pure-blooded house. I quite like her actually." Karissa smiled.

"She told me she'd be coming up to my dorm for Christmas. It's better than staying in her own common room."

"Then we really should be waiting for her!" Lily exclaimed. Luckily for the Marauders they didn't have to wait long. A knock sounded on the frame of the portrait hole. Lily stood with Karissa hot on her heels and pushed open the Fat Lady to reveal Kristiina Peters and a pile of presents. She looked a little apprehensive about celebrating Christmas with the same people who had tormented her for the last three years but warmed up after Lily made the others promise to leave her out of their future pranks.

"It's Christmas!" Lily exclaimed in a singsong voice as she received her first gift. The tag had said it was from Tanice. She quickly tore off the silver paper and found underneath a new book of fairy tales. This one was different than her other one; it had all of the stories that her original one didn't. She sat back running her fingers over the embossed cover. Alaura was next to open a gift ripping apart the paper of the parcel James had placed in her hands. It was from Liandra. As she pulled the gift out of the plain gold box she gasped.

"We thought very hard about what to give you. We all finally decided that we'd get you this though this part of the gift is from me," Liandra explained pointing to the beautiful musical note charm on the bracelet Alaura had delicately lifted from the box. Alaura hugged Liandra fiercely sitting back and admiring the bracelet as Karissa was handed a present from Tanice. She grinned. It was a picture of her, Tanice and Lucy on their first day of classes. Tanice had asked Kristiina to take it so they could remember their friendship.

"She's always so sweet," Kristiina commented softly. The room was silent for a minute thinking of the little girl lying unconscious in the Hospital Wing before making a promise that they would not think about that this morning. James found one for Remus and handed it carefully to him. The tag announced this one was from Sirius. Upon ripping off the plain brown paper he found a picture frame. The picture frame was made of metal netting and the picture inside was of Liandra, Sirius, James, Lily, Alaura and himself on the lake that passed June.

"The frame holds little charms," James explained pointing to the small paw hanging from one corner. "The picture was taken after exams. Notice that Sirius and Alaura are both much happier." Alaura and Sirius shouted indignantly at James' comment.

"Well would you look-y here," James said lifting a blue wrapped present. "This tag says to Kristiina but there's no return address." Lily looked at the box suspiciously.

"Where did you find that?" Lily asked watching warily as Kristiina accepted the box.

"In the common room," Kristiina replied beginning to pull off the bow.

"I wouldn't open it then. Who knows who it could be from," Alaura suggested watching Kristiina's hand pause.

"Maybe you're right," Kristiina conceded setting the present down beside her. Maybe she'd change the tag and leave it for Lucius Malfoy.

"How did you know?" James, Sirius, and Remus grinned.

"We've sent many anonymous gifts to the Slytherin common room for one Lucius Malfoy and one Snivellus Snape," Sirius answered. Kristiina stared wide-eyed.

"So those were from you! I can remember one with dung bombs… the common room stank for a month! It took Mr. Conduit everything he had in his store room to get rid of the smell."

"We bewitched them too," Lily added. "That's why they stank for so long. Did you realize that it was exactly a month when the stink disappeared?"

"Brilliant," Kristiina whispered to herself.

"We thought so too," Sirius said. James pulled a small silver wrapped present from under the tree.

"Here's one for you. From your parents." Kristiina took the package eagerly and ripped the parcel open. Lily looked at the tree and noticed all of the presents from her friends addressed to her and a few badly wrapped ones, probably for Lucy and Karissa but not many for Kristiina. She looked around the room and spotted a silvery tree in one corner. This gave Lily an idea. While the others were distracted at watching Kristiina's new bewitched broomstick fly six inches off of the ground, Lily pointed her wand at the tree. It immediately shrunk to fit in the palm of her hand and with a couple other simple spells she had placed the names of all of the people present on the tree with delicate ribbons, boxed the gift and wrapped it. She quickly levitated it behind one of her own. There, that was better.

"Lil, here's yours from Alaura," James said interrupting her thoughts and thrusting a snowy white parcel at her. As Lily tore the paper off, a gold box was revealed to her eyes. She shot an inquisitive look at Alaura before lifting the lid and finding an identical bracelet to that of her own.

"You know the drill. It was Liandra's idea," Alaura said bluntly in explanation. The small charm on the bracelet showed a tiny Statue of Liberty reminding Lily of where Alaura had come from.

"Its great thank you," Lily replied with a grin. James held out another present for Lucy, this one from her parents. The paper fell away revealing a perfect little picture frame. The picture in the frame was of a baby. Lucy's eyes softened.

"This is my new baby brother," she said proudly handing the frame around so every one could admire the new addition to the Penner family. "My parents called him Liam." Lily grinned as the picture passed by her.

"To Liandra from Lily flower," James announced passing Liandra the small package. Liandra took the paper off carefully, ever the perfectionist, and lifted the gold lid.

"We all thought alike this year," she remarked pulling out the silver bracelet. The charm on it was one of a book. Lily loved to read. James found five identical packages for each girl and handed them out. They each took turns opening the gifts. All were miniature charms for their bracelet from each of their friends. Liandra was presented with a small wolf from Remus, a Statue of Liberty from Alaura, a broomstick from James and a banana from Sirius. Remus stalled her before she opened the last, also from him.

"Wait until Lily and Alaura have opened their other ones first," he said softly. Alaura got a book representing Lily, a broomstick charm, this one from Sirius, a crescent moon from Remus and a small wand from James. Sirius snatched the last package, another from him, away before Alaura could open it grinning at her as she glared.

"Wait for Lily Billy," he sang. Lily was a little more careful in opening the small square presents. The first one she opened, from Liandra, held a small musical note. A messily white wrapped parcel yielded a small paw from Sirius while the blue present held a picture of what Lily thought was the Whomping Willow but didn't make comment because of the presence of Kristiina, Karissa, and Lucy. James' first red wrapped gift held a small snitch. She thanked every one enthusiastically grinning widely. Picking up the last parcel, James' second, Sirius cleared his throat.

"From talking to each one of you we determined that these charm bracelets were something like friendship bracelets, hence the reason you all have different charms from each of us and the reason you have those charms in the first place. Then, being the banana-headed monkeys we are, James, Remus and myself picked these up for you afterwards. You have to open them together because they are generally the same thing," he stated handing the purple wrapped parcel he had stolen earlier back to Alaura. Lily, Liandra and Alaura counted to three out loud before opening the boxes. Lily gasped as she set her eyes on the small heart that was sitting in the velvet of the box. The heart was red, sparkling in the morning sunlight.

"These are not just ordinary heart charms," Sirius said triumphantly watching Alaura's face light up. James shook his head.

"These charms carve the name of the one you love," he added softly. Lily watched as the heart carefully carved _James_ in beautiful calligraphy before launching herself into his arms.

"Now we have sort of the same thing for you," she said motioning to the two identical rectangular gifts lying close at hand and giving them to James and Sirius. She then grasped five boxes – identical to the ones she, Alaura and Liandra had just opened – and handed them around to the Marauders. James and Sirius opened the rectangular ones first revealing the same picture Remus had though because Sirius' was from Remus the charm in the corner was a dog and James' picture being from Sirius had a paw print.

"Now open all but the white ones," Lily instructed. The boys did as they were told each new box yielding yet another new charm for their frame.

"It was our idea to give you guys the same frame and the same picture," Liandra began.

"I went shopping with James a couple of weeks ago, at the last Hogsmede weekend and we saw these in a little shop. I pointed them out to James and told him the idea that maybe we should get one for Remus. I then passed the information on to Liandra and Alaura and they took each of you out to get the same thing," Lily finished gesturing to Sirius and Remus. James' completed set of charms held a Statue of Liberty (Alaura's doing), a stag (Remus), a silver flute (Liandra), and a lily charm (from Lily). Sirius had received a Statue of Liberty as Alaura's charm.

"Patriotic much?" he asked making Alaura blush. No one had seen the heart she had received carve the little hellion's name and she was planning on keeping it that way. Sirius also got a hoof from James, a miniature beater's club from Lily (he was a Gryffindor beater), and a flute – identical to James' – from Liandra. Remus' charms were a Statue of Liberty from Alaura, a dog from Sirius, a quill from Lily, a stag from James and a flute from Liandra.

"Now you can open the white ones," Liandra announced watching Remus tear the white paper off of his last package. Inside each box was a shimmering star.

"These are something like your hearts," Lily said. "When you're with the person you love most, it starts to glow." Sure enough, all three stars were glowing brightly in the black velvet of their boxes.

"Thanks, sweetheart," James said leaning over to give Lily a quick kiss before resuming his Santa duties.

"This one is for both Peters," he announced handing the sharp square package to the sisters. Kristiina and Karissa each took a corner and proceeded to tear the wrapping paper in half.

"Its our photo album!" Kristiina exclaimed. Tears sprung to her eyes. Lily leaned over, spotting a note and picked it up.

"My dear daughters," she read out loud. "Though I understand this photo album was given to us blank to record our memories we felt that the two of you deserved to have them too. Your father and I have put together this album of the two of you and the rest of your family so you will remember us through all of your time at Hogwarts. Love you both, Mother." The tears that had shined in Kristiina's eyes moments before cascaded down her cheeks as she opened the book to its first page. Staring up at her, unmoving (muggle album), was a picture of the two girls and two babies.

"That's you," she croaked out to Karissa pointing at the picture in the top left corner. Karissa giggled though the tears that were tracing lines down her face. Lily stood and placed herself between the two sisters and wrapped one arm around both of them.

"She's going to be a brilliant mother," Liandra whispered as a single crystal tear slipped down her cheek. There was only one gift left under the tree now – the Potters, Blacks, Lupins, Winters, Evans and Cooks always sent their presents at the end of the day – and as James picked it up he read the tag carefully.

"To Kristiina. From your new friends." He handed the heavy square box to the still crying girl who carefully pulled open the paper and then the box withdrawing the white Christmas tree that had inhabited the homework corner a few moments before. She took a moment to read all of the names on the ribbons before looking up at the gathered students.

"Thank you," she whispered. Noting the confusion hidden in each of her friend's eyes, Lily sighed.

"That tree used to be located in that corner of the common room," Lily said pointing. "I realized that there was nothing for you under there from us. That's when I noticed this tree. I used a couple of quick spells and got it all wrapped up for you so you can remember this." Kristiina, without really thinking, threw her arms around Lily's neck. Lily hugged back just as fiercely renewing to herself the promise she had made to the headmaster and charms teacher three years before. She would watch over Kristiina and those who hurt her, would be face with one extremely pissed off Lily Evans!


	10. Falling Into Place

New Year's came and went as January passed smoothly into February. Lily, James, Sirius, Alaura, Remus and Liandra had virtually forgotten about the Angel's Seal and Lily had not dreamt any more. Valentine's Day was approaching and this year it fell on a Hogsmeade weekend.

"James? How am I supposed to ask Alaura to Hogsmeade?" Sirius asked James the Monday before. James shrugged his shoulders.

"Alaura, though very much like Lily, is also very different. I could tell you how I'd ask Lily but seeing as I don't I haven't worried about it," he replied irritably. Professor Tonic had been in a horrible mood in Potions that day and had assigned extra homework to all of the Gryffindor students. Lily, finding this extremely unfair, had rushed up to see the headmaster.

"He said he can't do anything," she had said when she had returned half an hour later. Now James was sitting at a table trying to puzzle his way through the extra long essay.

"That's it!" Sirius exclaimed. "I'll go talk to Lily Billy!" And with that he was gone. James blew out a sigh of relief. Two small hands were placed on his shoulders and started moving in light circles.

"Relax." It was Lily. James did as he was told allowing Lily to rub the frustration and stiffness out of his shoulders. Her hands felt heavenly as they travelled down to his upper back. The quidditch practices he had been attending over the last couple of weeks had left his back in poor shape. This was doing wonders.

"Sirius was looking for you," he mumbled as she removed her hands from his back and moved to take a chair next to him. He gripped her waist and pulled her into his lap instead.

"What for?" Lily asked.

"He wants to ask you how to ask Alaura to Hogsmeade," James responded. Lily laughed lightly.

"I may be best friends with the girl but that doesn't necessarily mean I know how Sirius should ask her to go to Hogsmeade with him," she pointed out. James nodded, too tired to speak.

"You're exhausted."

"And you enjoy stated the obvious." Lily looked hurt.

"Sorry, Lil. I'm just really…"

"Potions essay," she finished for him on a sigh. He nodded mutely again. Lily moved into the chair beside him pulling it as close as the furniture would allow. Bending over his essay she read it quickly before pulling out her own.

"Take a look at those and give them back when you're done," she whispered softly. James rubbed his eyes unrolling the first scroll and Lily left him in peace.

--------------------

"Alaura?" Sirius called as he entered the sixth year's room. She was lying on her stomach a photo album propped open in front of her. She quickly snapped it shut.

"What do you want?"

"I want you to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow with me," he responding nervously. Alaura considered him for a minute.

"As friends?"

"As friends," Sirius agreed. _Though I wish it were more_.

"Alright, I'll go." Sirius knew she expected him to leave but he didn't.

"What were you looking at?" Alaura shot him a dangerous look.

"None of your business," she said tracking him as he came towards her. He had his wand out and the spell was recited before Alaura could make a move. The photo album, he most prized possession, zoomed towards him. He opened the book carefully looking at the first set of pictures. They were muggle pictures of a couple of small girls looking extremely happy.

"My very first friends," Alaura explained noting the confused look on his face. He moved to sit on the bed beside her flipping through all of the pages until he got to the last half. That half held pictures of her over her last year and a half at Hogwarts. There was a picture of Lily and Liandra after James and Sirius had pulled a particularly disgusting prank involving mud or slime and another of Alaura, Lily and Liandra smiling in front of the Hogwarts express. As Sirius turned the pages he came across pictures of himself, James and Remus along with the three girls in different positions and at different times. There was even the picture of all of them that he had been given for Christmas. The last two full pages had the most intriguing pictures for Sirius. They were two pages devoted only to pictures of him and her together. The charm he had given her for Christmas was there with a small name carved in her own handwriting. _Sirius_.

"Alaura," he whispered. "What's this about?" He pointed to the two pages and the charm. Alaura blushed a deep crimson.

"It's my most treasured thing and those pictures are my very best memories," she began but Sirius shook her head cutting her off.

"Why these two pages? And why did the heart carve my name?" For some reason this made him blush even more and she looked away. Sirius gently turned her head back to him, his hand cupped under her chin.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Her eyes wouldn't meet his.

"You love me," he whispered. It was a statement and Alaura knew it.

"Alaura, please answer me_…"_

_----------_

_"And what's going on between you and Sirius, Alaura?" Amanda asked genuinely curious. Alaura blushed, a very interesting feat for some one who didn't get embarrassed at all._

_"Absolutely nothing…"_

_"Its really obvious the two of you like each other, and not just as friends, Alaura," she said in her quiet way before Alaura could interrupt. "Its only a matter of time before the two of you start dating." Alaura glued a look of offence on her face._

_"Me and Black? Not a chance!"_

"_I'm with Liandra on this, 'Laura," Lily said. "You two are a lot like my parents. They constantly threatened and tormented each other through school but look at how much in love they are now…"_

_----------_

_Lily was right_, Alaura thought. She looked up into those chocolate eyes she truly loved so much. Sirius didn't need a verbal answer; he could see it right there in her eyes. She did. She loved him.

"I love you too," he whispered bringing his lips down softly on to hers.

--------------------

Lily crept down to the common room in the early hours of the morning. She hadn't been able to sleep at all. Looking around the room carefully, she spotted James sleeping on his homework, a textbook being used as a pillow. She smiled softly at the adorable picture he made before making her way over to him shaking his shoulder softly to wake him up.

"James, honey," she whispered. James groaned and reached out tugging on her arm.

"Not yet, Mom. I'm too tired." Lily giggled.

"I don't think I am your mother, James," she whispered again. James' eyes shot open and focused on the redheaded goddess standing off to his right side.

"Lily?"

"James."

"Where am I?"

"The common room. You fell asleep on your Potions textbook," Lily answered looking down at the sleep filled hazel eyes softly. He sat up quickly pushing the offending book away from him.

"Why don't you head up to bed and I'll pack these up?" Lily suggested looking at the tired lines etched on James' handsome face. He nodded standing shakily and walking precariously towards the boys' staircase. Lily heard a soft thump and cringed. James had run into the corner of the wall. She quietly rolled up the completed essay and tucked it safely in the bag beside the chair James had just vacated.

_Lily…_

Her head shot up and she looked around. She could have sworn she heard some one calling her name.

_Lily…_

"Hello?"

_Lily…_

She was getting scared now but curiosity seemed to get the better of her as she raced out of the common room into the darkness of the castle corridors.

_Lily…_

She turned left running faster and faster down flights and flights of stairs.

_Lily…_

There was a door up ahead. Lily didn't take the time to check and see which door it was. She pulled it open.

_Lily…_

The sound, her name, was coming from Tanice's bed.

_But Tanice is out cold. How can she be calling to me?_ Then it hit her. It wasn't Tanice calling, it was Tanith but because Lily was not asleep she was using Tanice to do it. Lily carefully approached Tanice's bed looking down at the unconscious girl. She was glowing faintly in the darkness of the night grasping a book to her chest. Lily looked down at this wondering how that book had gotten there. Alaura, Liandra, James, Sirius, Remus, Lucy and Karissa hadn't been in the Hospital Wing since the day she was found, thinking it easier to cope if they didn't see her. Lily was also pretty sure that Kristiina had never visited seeing as the small girl spent as much time as she could in the Library with her sister and Lucy. Lily had never brought a book in either… 

"What do you want?" Lily whispered brushing her fingers softly on Tanice's hand.

_Echoes of Angels__…_

"That's my favourite," she whispered. Then realization dawned on her face. The one place the legend of the Angel's Seal was located was a book of fairy tales that Lily had lent to Tanice that mild September day in the common room.

"Thank you," she said breathlessly carefully withdrawing the book from Tanice's cold fingers and running back to the common room.

--------------------

Lily didn't sleep that night and was wide-awake when Alaura and Liandra came down the stairs at seven o'clock.

"Wow, Lils. You're up early." Lily didn't even acknowledge that Alaura had spoke. She was too wrapped up in trying to read between the lines of the story in front of her. There were wiccan ingredients involved and Lily was trying to figure out what those were.

"Lily? Earth to Lily?" Alaura waved a hand in front of the redhead's eyes and Lily jumped.

"I'm sorry, guys, I didn't even hear you," Lily said quickly smiling at her two best friends before turning back to the story. Alaura shot Liandra a questioning look as the two sat on either side of her.

"Lily? What's up?" Alaura asked reading over Lily's shoulder. Lily squealed pulling a piece of parchment that was sitting on the small table in front of her towards her and picked up the quill near by. She quickly jotted down a few ingredients before squealing again and reading quickly onwards. She then came across a long Portuguese incantation and thrust the book at Liandra.

"Can you read out the Portuguese for me please?" she asked setting the quill back on the parchment ready to write.

"Read it? Are you nuts? Copy it," Alaura said taking the book from Liandra's stunned hands and setting it roughly in front of Lily's parchment.

"Point me the lines the please," she sighed her quill moving quickly across the parchment recording the written words. She shook her hand when she had completed the incantation.

"What is that?"

"Our ticket to opening the Angel's Seal," Lily replied picking up the book and parchment and running out of the portrait hole. James came down the stairs a couple of minutes later.

"Lily not up yet?"

"Oh, she's up alright. But she's mental," Alaura replied shaking her head. James raised an eyebrow.

"She's acting really funny," Liandra supplied.

"Where is she now?" James asked.

"I don't know…"

--------------------

"Sugar quills," Lily said to the gargoyle in front of the headmaster's office. The gargoyle hopped out of the way and Lily walked in onto the spiralling staircase up to the headmaster's oak front door.

"Miss Evans! You have news?" Professor Dumbledore said upon allowing her to enter his chambers. Without a word, Lily placed the book and parchment onto his desk.

"My goodness," he remarked softly.

"The list is of mainly wiccan ingredients used in most locater spells. The incantation is to open the Seal," Lily explained bluntly. For some unknown reason, her body was in overdrive and sleep seemed to be a thing of the past.

"How are you planning…" the headmaster began.

"Most of the ingredients are also used in first year potions so those shouldn't be hard to gather. The others we may have to take a trip to Diagon Alley or I can talk to Liandra about getting her friend to lend her some," Lily interrupted, then realized that she had indeed interrupted the headmaster apologized.

"Do you know when this ritual must take place?" Lily, in answer, waved to the gold and silver book underneath the parchment.

"It's all in the story called _Echoes of Angels_ and I was wondering… no, that's alright. I'll figure that out on my own," she mumbled the last end of her sentence.

"You were wondering…?"

"I'm sorry Professor. You probably wouldn't tell me any way," Lily said quickly. Professor Dumbledore nodded.

"My dear, is that all?" Lily nodded standing up.

"As I trust that you know what you are doing and are quite capable of accomplishing it, I will return these to you now." He handed her the book and parchment. Lily smiled at him slightly and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Miss Evans?" Lily turned to the headmaster. "Please do not lose any sleep over this." Lily nodded and left the office.

-


	11. Puzzle Pieces

Lily hadn't gone down to breakfast that morning nor was she seen at lunch. James was starting to get very worried about her.

"Kristiina," he said approaching the Slytherin table at dinner. Kristiina jumped, used to eating on her own. She smiled weakly when she saw it was James.

"Have you seen Lily?" Kristiina's eyes widened.

"No! Is she alright?" Kristiina asked immediately. James sighed.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her since about three this morning."

"Did you check everywhere? The Hospital Wing, the Library, the Gryffindor common room…" Kristiina was babbling. She was nervous. Lily had acted like a surrogate mother while she was at Hogwarts making the time Kristiina spent in the Slytherin common room seem insignificant.

"No, we haven't looked in either the Hospital Wing or the Library. We've looked everywhere else, its just this isn't like Lily. Usually she's really open with things." Kristiina nodded mutely before grabbing a roll from the basket in front of her and standing up.

"I'll go look in the Library and then the Hospital Wing. It gives me something to do other than homework anyway," she said motioning for James to go back with his friends.

"We'll come with you. We're just as worried about her."

"No. It'll be easier if I go alone. Maybe she doesn't want to see any body right now and if a lot of people smother her at once it might be overwhelming." James nodded. She had a point.

"Okay. If you find her," he lowered his voice, "the Gryffindor password is _guardian angel_." Kristiina nodded once showing her comprehension before rushing out of the Great Hall.

* * *

Kristiina found Lily in the Hospital Wing, working quietly beside Tanice's still body.

"Lily?" she asked softly. Lily looked up.

"Hi, Kristiina. What can I help you with?"

"We're worried," she replied simply.

"Worried?"

"About you."

"Why?"

"Are you kidding? You haven't been down for any meals today, at all and we haven't seen you. The last person that did was James at three in the morning. Three in the morning Lily! You're scaring us because you're not telling us things." Lily looked startled at the outburst coming from the small girl. The book on her lap dropped to the floor and Kristiina picked it up looking at the cover.

"Fairy tales? You've been sitting in her all day reading fairy tales?" Kristiina asked disbelievingly.

"Not quite. There's a story in there that'll help wake up Tanice," Lily replied quietly, almost nervously. She had seen Kristiina's eyes flash with something other than worry and sadness. Something else was there, deeper, and it wasn't an emotion.

"And you didn't deem yourself to tell us this, especially Alaura, because…?"

"Look, Kristiina, I really appreciate you're worrying but I can't deal with people right now. I want to try and figure out what day they're talking about when they mention the _o dia da luz _and…"

"The day of the light would be the birthday of a Guardian Angel," Kristiina said without really thinking.

"What?"

"The day of the light is the birthday of the resident Guardian Angel," Kristiina repeated.

"But then…"

"Tanice. Didn't you say that the little angel girl in your dreams was Tanice but she went by Tanith?"

"How did you…?"

"That's not important. What is important is waking that little girl up," Kristiina said forcefully, pointing at Tanice.

"I don't know when Tanice's birthday is," Lily said stupidly still trying to get over Kristiina's revelation. The girl was bright.

"Ask Alaura. The family that the Angel lives with are usually the only ones that know." Lily nodded mutely.

"Oh, and Lily? Try not to lose weight over this. You need to eat just as much as you need to sleep. Don't think you can skip your meals instead of your rest," Kristiina said as Lily looked into the depths of the dark blue eyes.

"Thanks Kristiina," Lily said before leaving the room.

"She's working on it Tanith, she's working on it."

* * *

As Lily stepped into the Gryffindor common room later on that night, she noticed Alaura and Liandra sitting by the fire with James between them and Sirius and Remus on the floor in front. She quickly and quietly passed them up into her dormitories. She had to face them and she knew it, she just wasn't sure if she could handle it quite yet.

"Lily?" She spun quickly. Liandra was standing there.

"What happened?"

"I figured things out," Lily responded just as quietly as Liandra. Lily knew Liandra was trying to cushion her and for that she was thankful. Telling this to Liandra first would probably make it easier for Lily to tell Alaura, Sirius, Remus and James. James! She had virtually ignored him for the entire day! She fell down onto her bed heavily.

"The Angel's Seal?"

"Kristiina's help," Lily replied.

"Bright girl."

"She is."

"What did you come up with?"

"The day of the light. Kristiina translated it for me because it's mentioned in a prophecy but the language was Portuguese. I didn't have my wand because I'd left it in here when I went last night to find out who was calling my name…"

"Some one was calling for you?"

"Yeah. It turned out to be Tanith calling through Tanice. Tanith had placed that fairy tale book I had lent to Tanice in Tanice's arms so I would find it. There's another fantastic person, Tanith… or Tanice." Liandra nodded in agreement.

"So this day of the light…?"

"Is the resident Guardian Angel's birthday. The angel is Tanice because the angel in my dreams is Tanith and the two are one and the same. That list of stuff I wrote down are ingredients for the ritual and the Portuguese is the incantation to open the Seal," Lily explained.

"Oh. Should I be giving Lindsey a call, or owl?" Liandra asked. If you wanted anything Wiccan, Lindsey was the person you should be talking to.

"I don't know yet. It depends what is in Diagon Alley and if we can use any first year Potion ingredients," Lily answered.

"Use Tanice's. She's the one that they are needed for, right?"

"Good idea, just not now," Lily mumbled turning over on her bed.

"Oh no you don't! You, my dear, have not eaten in over twenty-four hours. I am not letting you go to sleep on an empty stomach! Get up! I'm going to get James' invisibility cloak," Liandra reprimanded pulling Lily out of her bed. Liandra was right…again. The mention of James shot another pang through her heart. How could she have ignored him for the whole day?

"And, you owe us all an apology."

* * *

Lily and Liandra snuck downstairs under the flowing material of James' invisibility cloak ten minutes later. James, Remus, Alaura, and Sirius were still sitting in the same places they had been when Lily had originally entered the large room. Lily shot a pained glance at them all, knowing she had acted very wrong today.

"Food first, apologies later," Liandra said under her breath. Lily nodded making her way carefully across the common room with Liandra under James' invisibility cloak.

* * *

The night air was cool on Lily's skin. She hadn't changed out of her pyjamas since she had woken up early that morning and so was still wearing the dark blue flannel pants and light tank top with her favourite blue sweatshirt thrown over top. She had rolled up the sleeves of her sweatshirt as she was working on deciphering the legend of the Angel's Seal and therefore the still cold February air raised goose bumps on the exposed flesh. Shivers ran up and down her spine from the cold as she and Liandra turned down the passageway towards the kitchens. Lily froze. Memories flooded her already overloaded mind. Memories of nightmares of death flashed slowly through her head as if she was watching a particularly unhurried movie run without being able to stop it.

"Lily!" Liandra was shaking her hard as Lily whimpered and backed away from the passage they were heading down.

"I can't do it. I can't go down there," she said fearfully, her eyes wide. Liandra looked from the empty corridor to Lily and back again.

_Her dream_, Liandra realized. _She's remembering her dream._

"We're not going any further than the kitchens Lils. You'll be fine," Liandra said leading Lily down the passage stopping at the picture of fruit. She lifted a finger out of the invisibility cloak and tickled the green pear in the picture lightly. The picture swung open and Liandra pushed Lily inside.

"What can I get the lovely mistress?" Lily smiled down at the small house elf in front of her.

"A peanut butter and jelly sandwich please." At Liandra's stern look Lily sighed. "If I eat too much at once after not eating for twenty four hours I get sick." Lily smiled as the elf brought back her sandwich before eating it quickly. Patting the elf on the head, the two girls departed back to the common room.

* * *

James was still awake as Lily and Liandra entered and pulled off the invisibility cloak.

"Thank you James," Liandra said handing the cloak back to him and heading up the stairs. James sighed.

"Where is she?" he asked himself. Lily grinned, knowing that he was talking about her. Sobering quickly at the memory of why he was so worried about her. How could she have been stupid enough not to even mention where she would be and what she was doing?

"I'm right here," Lily whispered no meeting his eyes. She heard James turn quickly and she heard him stand up and come towards her. Without asking her any questions, he pulled her into his embrace whispering how worried he had been.

"I'm sorry," she whispered in return. Worrying James had been the last thing on her mind when she found Tanice lying with her fairy tale book in her arms. Pushing her away slightly he looked her up and down taking in the dark circles under her eyes and dulled spark.

"You should get some sleep," he said drawing her back to him, "but I don't want to let you go." Lily smiled burying her face in his chest. She loved him all lovey-dovey. It made her feel special and wanted.

"I'll come up and sleep with you. I need a cuddle," Lily responded hugging him back. He picked her up, one hand under her knees the other supporting her back, and climbed the boys' staircase. Setting Lily on her feet for a moment, James pulled down the covers and picking her up again, deposited her on the bed. He climbed in behind her, wrapping his arm securely around her waist after pulling the covers around them. Lily's slow breathing told James that she was already asleep.

"I love you, Lily," he whispered falling asleep himself.


	12. Perfect Fit

Lily woke late the next morning with James still holding on to her tightly.

_It's as if he thinks he'll lose me,_ Lily thought to herself, rolling over. James was awake, his breathing too uneven to say otherwise.

"Morning sunshine," he whispered. "Happy Valentine's Day." Lily groaned softly.

"What' wrong?"

"I forgot today was our day," she whispered in reply capturing his lips in a sweet kiss. A knock on the dormitory door interrupted the attempted snogging session as Sirius entered carrying a tray of food and James' invisibility cloak over his arm.

"I borrowed this, mate, to bring our love birds some breakfast before I left to go to Hogsmeade with Alaura," he said with an extra wide grin. This threw Lily off somewhat. What had Sirius done this time?

"Is it safe?" Lily asked.

"What? The food? I brought it straight back here after borrowing Jamesie's cloak here," Sirius replied indignantly, setting the tray on James bedside table and the cloak over his trunk. Lily grinned.

"Thank you," she said as Sirius turned to leave the room. He paused, shooting a 'you're welcome' smile over his shoulder and pulling the door closed after him. Sitting up, Lily removed the tray from the precarious position it was in on James' bedside table and balanced it on her lap carefully.

"Breakfast is served, love," she smiled to James. He wrapped his arm around her waist and nipped her earlobe.

"I don't know if its food that I'm hungry for." Shivers skittered over Lily's spine at his admission.

"Well isn't that too bad. Food is all I've got right now," she whispered. James understood; she wasn't ready yet. **(A/N: This is PG-13 people though I really am probably going to stretch the limits here! Sequel maybe not)** He picked up a strawberry lying artistically beside the pancakes on one of the plates and held it up for Lily. She took a bite savouring the taste on her tongue as James watched completely enraptured. He couldn't help it any more. Food or not, hell or high water he was going to kiss her, but there would be a twist. He quickly stuck the rest of the strawberry in his mouth. Lily pouted.

"I wanted that," she said quietly. It wasn't a very big strawberry and Lily's bite hadn't left much behind. It was therefore easy for James to shove it into his cheek for a moment.

"Come and get it." He wasn't really sure if he expected Lily to try and take the strawberry from him but he did want her lips on his.

"That's evil Mr. Potter," she said before pressing her lips to his and thrusting her tongue into her mouth to get at the strawberry. James, to stop her, lightly bit down on her tongue, and therefore the strawberry, squirting the sweet juice into his mouth and hers. Lily pulled away.

"Not fair," she stated before licking her lips.

"I'll give you half," he responded biting as close to the halfway point as he could. Lily bent forward, taking the half he had left for her and letting her lips graze his quickly. They continued breakfast, feeding each other at times and at others taking the food from their mate's mouth.

* * *

The couple didn't get down to Hogsmeade until after noon and even then they almost hadn't made it at all. The desire to stay in James' bed, wrapped up in their kisses was overwhelming but Lily had eventually gotten him out of there and down to the small town. They bypassed Zonko's Joke Shop as the ambled down the street. This was their day; Zonko's could wait. They spotted Alaura and Sirius moving down an alley.

"Who'd have thought?" Lily asked as they continued down to the Three Broomsticks. James, always the gentleman, held open the door for Lily and followed closely behind her. She loved the feeling of him at her back. It gave her support and confidence to know that she was loved. They chose a table away from every body else sitting quietly just looking at each other.

"What can I get you two?" Madam Rosmerta asked quietly, afraid of disturbing something. She had known, the first time Lily, James, Sirius, Liandra, and Remus had entered the small dining room that these two would end up together. They had always had a knack for knowing where the other was at any time.

"Butterbeer," James answered.

"Cranberry juice, _please_," Lily replied emphasising the please.

"Yes, of course, _please,_" James retorted, more to Lily than the elderly waitress.

"One minute." Lily watched her go, tracking her progress across the room to other tables.

--------------------

James was shaking. He had something he wanted to give to Lily, to the girl that meant the most to him. He fingered the tiny velvet covered box in his pocket. **(A/N: no James is not going to propose to Lily in their sixth year! What do you think I'm nuts?) **Lily's gift sat nestled in that box. Madam Rosmerta came back with their drinks a few minutes later and James and Lily sat in companionable silence watching the other customers come in and go out, all the while keeping an eye out for their friends.

"Let's go up to the Shrieking Shack," James suggested downing the rest of his butterbeer. If he didn't give her the gift now, he was sure he never would. Lily noted the look of nervousness on his face but refrained from comment as she finished the rest of her glass and followed James out of the Three Broomsticks and up the grassy hill to the old worn down house.

"There's something bewitching about this place," Lily said softly looking up at the Shack. James nodded pulling out the box.

"I have your gift," he said holding it out for her carefully. Lily took the box and lifted the lid, gasping at the object underneath.

"It was my mother's. I don't have any sisters, or she would be passing that down to them. When she gave it to me before I left to Hogwarts this year she told me to give it to the woman I loved." Lily looked up at James as he finished, tears of happiness shining in her eyes. She lifted the silver heart locket into the air and out of the box, carefully storing the box in her pocket. She handed it to him and he wordlessly fastened the clasp behind her as she lifted her long hair out of the way. The necklace was silver with two pendants. One, she knew he had gotten especially for her, and the other was part of the necklace. Upon opening the silver heart locket (the other pendant was a white lily) the redhead found a picture of her and a picture of James on opposite sides.

"Thank you James," she breathed before pushing herself up to kiss him slowly. They were both breathless when they pulled away moments later and Lily's cheeks were flushed red.

"Let's get back up to the castle," he suggested. Lily nodded, though they hadn't spent that much time in Hogsmeade. They passed Honeydukes on the way back and Lily dragged James inside. She made the excuse that she was running out of sweets as she turned around quickly and kissed him again. Once stalked up on candy, the two slowly made their way back up to Hogwarts.

* * *

The afternoon passed with Lily and James sitting cuddled on a couch in the common room, laughing, talking and dozing. The night was something unexpected. A carnival was held for Valentine's Day, courtesy of the Heads and teachers. James and Lily ambled down to the Great Hall that night, stopping to look at the work that had gone into the night's event. Sirius was in the kissing booth with Alaura standing off to one side glaring and Liandra and Remus to the other with amused expressions on their faces. In one corner was a cute red and pink version of the Shrieking Shack and in another a maze had been magically grown. James and Lily gravitated towards the maze following the path their feet took them, only stopping to kiss each other sweetly. They stopped in a secluded dead end and lay on their backs watching the stars come out on the enchanted ceiling.

"It's beautiful," Lily breathed. **(Corniness at it's best coming up!**)

"Not half as beautiful as you," James answered and though he had said it numerous times to other girls as he dated, with Lily, he meant it with every fibre of his soul. She smiled softly in the light glow of the moon.

"I walked into that."

"You sure did." Somewhere far away a bell sounded signalling the end of the carnival. James and Lily were not a bit disappointed that they had missed the other activities they could have done as the wandered back up to Gryffindor Tower and back to James' now made bed, curling up together to go to sleep.

* * *

I hope that was fluffy enough for you all. I was running out of ideas in the end there so I kind of cut it off abruptly. I might break them up before the end of the year but I'm still sitting on that one and if I don't I will try my very hardest to make another fluffy chapter for you all!

Button… You know the rest! Review!

Kavi Leighanna


	13. Into the Seal

Lily woke the next morning before James with one sentence running through her head. _She hasn't got much time._ David had told her that while she sat beside Tanith's still body in her dreams. Lily didn't have a lot of time to figure out how to open the Seal. She hadn't even asked Alaura when Tanice's birthday was! She slipped quietly out of James' embrace and down into the common room where she had left the fairy tale book and her parchment two nights ago and, sitting at the closest table, resumed puzzling out the riddle that was the Angel's Seal. Alaura was the next up, yawning and stretching the cautiously approached Lily.

"Got a second for your best friend?" Lily smiled up at her lavender-eyed friend, those same eyes she shared with her sister.

"I do believe I can spare a few moments for you. In fact, I have a question for you," Lily answered moving slightly to allow her friend to take a seat beside her.

"Shoot."

"When is Tanice's birthday?"

"March twenty-sixth," Alaura answered facing Lily quizzically. Lily launched into the full story of her discovery two days prior. Alaura listened quietly and in awe.

"Wow," she said once Lily had finished. "Tanice certainly has been busy, hasn't she?" Alaura's voice was weak. Lily had left out the part about there only being a little bit of time left for Tanice to herself. There was no reason to give Alaura that burden to carry. Lily suspected that if the Seal was not opened by the twenty-sixth of March, Tanice wouldn't make it.

* * *

Breakfast was a sober affair, Sirius comforting Alaura. She was devastated that her little siste3r had so much to do with such a dangerous thing. James had been terribly nervous about not waking up with Lily curled up beside him – a way that James wanted to wake up to forever – and had immediately found her seating in the common room beside Alaura. The two were pouring over Lily's favourite fairy tale. Lily was now tucked comfortably against his side, his arm around her waist. The school was in an uproar as to what had gotten the best pranksters in Hogwarts sober.

"We have six weeks," Lily said softly.

"We should tell Lucy, Karissa, and Kristiina," Liandra suggested.

"I will go talk to Kristiina now. I wanted to talk to her anyway. Her Charms mark is falling again," Lily replied standing and, with James behind her, Headed off towards the Slytherin table. Whispered comments followed James and Lily all of the way across the Great Hall. Kristiina looked around at them as the prefects approached.

"What happened to Tanice?" Kristiina asked. It was the first thing and almost the only reason Lily may want to talk to her during a meal.

"Nothing… yet. Help? Please?" Lily asked. Without another word, Kristiina stood and followed Lily and James out of the Hall and to the Library. Finding a table close to the back, Lily, James and Kristiina too a seat while Lily showed the fairy tale story she had been working with over the last two days to the small Slytherin.

"Can you translate the Portuguese?"

"Roughly… We ask for the power of angels above, corresponding with the legend of the one so old. The Guardian is lost until the day of the light, but we must help in this time of ancient plight. We open the Seal and set power free to revive the One and the balance retrieve. The power is needed, and the case been pleaded. We open the Seal and free the power, once again on this fateful hour. Release. I think that's it."

"We… I guess it means us. Remus, Alaura, Liandra, Sirius, you and me," Lily sighed to James.

"And if everything that you said is correct the ritual won't take place until about midnight on March the twenty-sixth… Tanice's birthday," James agreed.

"Which means, now that we know all of this, all we can do is wait."

* * *

Waiting for March twenty-sixth was probably one of the hardest things Lily had ever had to do.

"March twenty-fifth," Alaura whispered the day before they had been set to go open the Angel's Seal. Liandra had owled her parents who in turned had passed on the request for simple locating ingredients and Lindsey had sent them as quick as she could. They had everything they needed. Now, they were waiting.

"I hate waiting," Sirius voiced. "It makes me fidget." Alaura snorted.

"We've noticed," she replied tracking Sirius as he walked back and forth in front of her.

"I'm scared," Lily whispered, voicing the emotion for the first time. "What if I'm wrong? What if one of us doesn't make it? What if it kills us all?"

"We don't know, Lils," James answered. "We can't think like that."

"Well if it doesn't work…" Alaura began, pausing with a shudder.

"…At least we tried," Liandra finished.

"Let's do something!" Sirius exclaimed.

"We could do homework," Remus suggested lamely wrapping his arm more securely around Liandra's waist.

"We won't concentrate. We could go out by the lake," Alaura countered.

"In March?" Sirius asked.

"We could play chess," Lily recommended.

"Too many people," James countered. Lily stood.

"I'm going walking on the grounds then. I can't stay here. If any one of us is lost tomorrow night, it's all my fault," she said. Leaving before any one could tell her otherwise, Lily wandered up the many flights of stairs in Hogwarts to the Astronomy Tower. She looked up to the stars and thought of Tanice.

"Why her? I could have been any body, why did you have to pick Tanice?" Lily asked the heavens.

"We didn't pick her." Lily spun. And angel was standing behind her. An angel with smokey grey eyes and dark black hair was standing behind her.

"Didn't pick her?"

"Angels are picked in large groups to be chosen to be Guardian Angels. Tanith was chosen along with nineteen other young angels. Each are asked if they are willing to possibly sacrifice themselves to being Guardian Angels."

"What? Tanith chose to be… Chosen?"

"She did. She was the best for the job and so she's here on earth now. It wasn't expected that the ancient evil would attack."

"Ancient evil?"

"There is only one thing that Angel's fear above all else."

"Evil angels?"

"No. Black angels can be dealt with. Angel's fear humans more than anything."

"Humans? Why humans?"

"Humans are easily corrupted, easily bent to the wills of evil. Humans are also power hungry. Power attracts humans faster than flies to honey."

"Makes sense."

"You have little time to revive the Guardian…"

"Angel, I know. Tomorrow at midnight."

"No, not tomorrow. Today. Tomorrow at midnight will be the twenty-seventh of March. Tonight at midnight will be the twenty-sixth." Lily looked stunned. She was right, whoever she was. Lily checked her watch. 11:30.

"Shit! I've got to go."

"I'll be here, whenever you need me." Those were her last words as she disappeared in a ball of light as Lily rushed out of the tower and down the castle's stairs back to the common room.

* * *

Lily burst through the common room doors ten minutes later. They didn't have much time and James, Sirius, Remus, Alaura and Liandra were no where in sight. Rushing up the girls' stairs, Lily pushed open the wooden door and ran to Alaura's bed. Shaking her hard, Lily whispered harshly:

"Alaura! Wake up! We have to go if we want to rescue Tanice!" That woke Alaura up instantly.

"What? That's not until tomorrow."

"No! Tonight at midnight will be the twenty-sixth not tomorrow!" Lily left Alaura to get herself out of bed and turned to Liandra waking her up as well.

"I have it on good authority that its tonight. Let's go!"

* * *

James, Sirius and Remus were all woken in the same way and the sex of them met in the common room of Gryffindor Tower. Liandra had brought a canvas bag with all of the Wiccan ingredients and other ritual paraphernalia. They made their way quietly and carefully down to the dungeons without the use of James' invisibility cloak. Moving past the entrance to the kitchen, James, and Sirius looked over at it dreamily.

"We're not stopping so don't even think about it!" Alaura hissed. They continued on in silence, down the dark, damp corridor towards the angel tapestry. The door across the hall looked pretty solid as Lily pushed it open and slipped into the pitch blackness of the room beyond. The golden circle of the Angel's Seal sat just as Lily remembered it, in the centre of the room glowing faintly; the same glow that seemed to be around the unconscious Tanice a few floors above.

"Lily? How do we set everything up?" Liandra whispered. The room was so quiet, to talk any louder would almost be deafening.

"Put the candles in a circle and leave enough room for us to sit inside. Put the stuff in the middle of the circle too," Lily instructed looking around the room. Sure enough, there were shackles and chains on the walls. She shivered involuntarily at the memory of watching James, Sirius, Remus, Alaura and Liandra dead before her eyes. That gave her an idea. She rushed to the door, closing it, locking it and magically sealing it.

"We all have to sit inside the circle of candles," she said stepping through the ring of light to sit beside the Seal. As Lily had expected, there were four animals on the Seal: a snake, a raven, a lion and a hedgehog. Watching as the others followed her lead, Lily picked up a mixture of sage and dandelion flowers.

"Okay… Liandra? Do you have the copies of the Portuguese chant?" Lily asked. Liandra nodded, pulling out six different pieces of parchment and handing them out to her five other friends. Lily cleared her throat and throwing her handful of dandelion flowers and sage onto the golden circle. It immediately began glowing brighter and Lily suspected that Tanice was doing the same thing in the Hospital Wing. As one they all began chanting as the rest threw their handfuls of sage and dandelion onto the circle too.

"Pedimos el poder de ángeles arriba, correspondiente con la leyenda del uno tan viejo. El Guardián es perdido hasta que el día de la luz, pero debido ayudar en este tiempo del apuro antiguo. Abrimos el poder del Sello y el conjunto liberta para revivir el Uno y el equilibrio recuperan. El poder se necesita, y el caso fue implorado. Abrimos el Sello y libertamos el poder, una vez más en esta hora decisiva. La liberación!" As they finished, the Seal threw out one burst of golden light in a beam that went through the ceiling. The Seal opened, the four pieces sliding into the earth around it. This was not an expected outcome to the chant and Lily gasped. The circle had been pretty wide, probably about three feet in diameter and Lily suspected that a person could fit inside of it. Looking down into the gap, Lily noticed a set of stairs winding into the bright unknown beyond.

"I think we have to go down there," Lily breathed. "There are stairs."

"What are we waiting for then?" James asked. Lily shook her head.

"No. If some one goes down there, it won't be all of us. I'm going down by myself."

"No way, Lily. You've done way too much on your own as it is," Alaura protested.

"'Laura's right. We can't let you go by yourself. You don't know what could be down there," Sirius agreed.

"There's no way you're leaving me behind," Liandra voiced, the sound being a lot stronger than she felt.

"If Lia's going, then I'm going," Remus agreed.

"And even if you wanted to go in there alone there would be no way you were leaving me to worry about what on earth could happen to you," James said, as stubborn as ever. Lily looked around at all of her friends that seemed intent on being martyred with her. There was no way she was going to win that argument.

"Fine, we'll go down together." The six friends stood and, leaving the candles burning, one by one lowered themselves into the Angel's Seal.


	14. The Crystal Pathway

Once Lily, James, Alaura, Sirius, Remus and Liandra had all dropped through the opening in the Seal, and followed the stairs down and down and down, they came across a crystal pathway.

"Do you know what we're looking for?" James asked Lily quietly. Lily shook her head quickly before taking a good look around at her surroundings. She was in familiar surroundings. The meadow was as green as she had always remembered it, the tree she had sat under countless times, while making her crown of flowers and when she had talked to David the last time about Tanith. And there was Tanith, lying lifeless on the top of the hill with Lily's picked bouquet of daisies lying on her chest as fresh as if she had picked them yesterday. Lily, without thought, ran to Tanith's side. She wasn't breathing.

"No," Lily whispered. "You can't be dead." Tears were flowing unbidden down her cheeks in rivers leaving trails behind them. The one thing Lily had hoped for the most was lost and her hope had deserted her.

"I can bring her back," a deep male voice said. There was a hint of a hiss in his voice and Lily stiffened.

"You can?"

"I can reunite her with you and her sister." Now Lily was suspicious. This time he didn't say her could bring her back. He said he could reunite Tanith with Alaura and herself. Lily pulled out her wand and turned quickly pointing it at the offender.

"Get away. You're not supposed to be here."

"And you are?"

"We're supposed to be here. You are not allowed to be in here. This is a dream world, my dream world, and you're not in it." The man, dressed in a black robe, his head down, looked her in the eye and Lily gasped. The eyes were slits of red. Voldemort.

"You are definitely not supposed to be here," she said quietly almost dangerously. Her wand was up her robe sleeves ready to be used with a flick of her wrist.

"I don't want to be reunited with her. If she's dead, she's dead and I'll see her when its time for me to see her and not before. You cannot choose my time to meet with Tanith again," Lily said sharply. Voldemort was taken aback. He hadn't gambled on such a head-strong girl opening the Angel's Seal for him. He pointed his wand at her heart.

"You can't kill me here," she whispered, "it's impossible. Because it's my dream world it is impossible for you to do drastic damage to me or any of my friends." Voldemort took a step back at Lily's statement. It was true, and Voldemort knew it. In a dream world, the person who's dream world it is, is the only one able to change it, in this case Lily. If she didn't want him in her world, he could easily erase him out of her world.

"But I can kill you. We both know that will affect both here and on earth if I wish it." She was still using that quiet voice, that voice that was more convincing than any honest tone that Lily would ever be able to muster. Without another word, Voldemort removed himself from Lily's dream world. Lily breathed out a sigh of relief. She wasn't completely sure if that would really work.

"Lily! You just ran off on us!" Alaura exclaimed. James, Sirius, Remus, Alaura and Liandra had debated with each other on whether or not they would leave the crystal path.

"We got worried about…" Liandra trailed off seeing Tanith behind Lily. "No."

"I don't think she's dead," Sirius said though there was an unmistakable not of hopefulness in his voice.

"She's not breathing," Lily whispered in reply.

"There is no way she can be dead," Alaura whispered brokenly.

"She's not." The smoky eyed angel was back, David behind her. "But it will take a lot to bring her back."

"What do we have to do?" Alaura asked without hesitation.

"Follow the crystal pathway."

"What?"

"The crystal pathway you saw when you entered through the Seal. It's a long and dangerous road but at the end is a crystal rose. That rose will be the ancient power that will bring Tanith back."

"We'll do it… how do we get back?" Sirius asked, noting the 'I'll-do-whatever-it-takes-to-make-sure-my-sister's-okay' look on Alaura's face.

"The crystal pathway."

"No, how do we get back to the crystal pathway?"

"Like this," David said and with a snap of his fingers, Lily, James, Alaura, Sirius, Liandra and Remus were standing on the glossy, hard surface.

* * *

Lily was tired and her feet hurt. The group had been walking for what felt like hours, though in reality it had only been a few minutes.

"Can we stop and rest?" Lily heard Sirius ask from behind her.

"No." James had answered Sirius' question. Not herself, or Alaura, or Liandra.

"Can we stop, please?" Lily asked quietly. Alaura spun to face her.

"With Tanice in the position she is! You want to rest!" Alaura exclaimed. Lily drew back; it wasn't like Alaura to yell at Lily. She never yelled at Lily, even when they were fighting.

"I want Tanice to live as much as you do Alaura, and so does Lily, but we're no use if we're tired and sore," Liandra reasoned.

"You too! James is the only one on my side! My best friend's boyfriend is the only one who understands…"

"I understand, 'Laura, but Lia has a point. We're no use to Tanice all tired," Lily said, her voice even quieter than before.

"Lily?" James was worried, and it not only showed in his face but every one could hear it in his voice. Lily's eyelids drooped.

"Alaura, we have to stop. Something's wrong with Lily," Sirius said coming to stand beside his best friend.

"Who cares, she doesn't want to save Tanice," Alaura snapped back.

"Alaura, you know as well as the rest of us that we can't do this without Lily and… oh no." Liandra, Sirius and Remus didn't like the sound of that 'oh no'.

"What?" Liandra asked carefully.

"We can't let Lily fall asleep. Remember that angel said that the road was dangerous. There are probably forces at work here that don't want Lily to help us through this. Because this is Lily's dream world, she probably knows everything in it inside out and backwards. Without her, we can't change what's happening. Without her, we could all die." This caught Alaura's attention. Tanice was depending on them. Her eyes softened.

"I'm sorry," she whispered before walking over to a half conscious Lily who was wrapped in James' arms. Liandra followed.

"Lily, you can't go to sleep. Tanice needs you and you know it. Shake it off and get up girlie, 'cause I can't do this without you." Then realization dawned on Alaura's face. "We… teamwork. With me yelling at Lily I broke up the team. You guys know the phrase, _united we stand, divided we fall_, right?"

"We got divided when Alaura yelled at Lily and that made Lily more vulnerable," Remus concluded.

"Both a good thing and a bad thing." Sirius was right. It was a good thing that they had figured this out, and yet a bad thing because they didn't have a clue about how to wake up Lily. They also didn't know who was behind it all.

_"Lily, wake up, please?" _James' voice was concerned and Lily could hear it through her haze filled mind. Something was keeping her from getting back to her friends and helping the poor first year above.

_Come on Lily, think of something! You're useless asleep and it's your dream world. So wish, I wish I wasn't asleep. I wish I could help my friends._ Nothing happened. Lily screamed mentally. Something was blocking her and when Lily got out of her own mind, that something wasn't going to live long.

_How can they know our weaknesses? Alaura's the only one that knows that when she yells at me, I get really upset. What can figure out our weaknesses so quickly and in such a way that it doesn't even have to enter our minds?_ She could feel herself being shaken and Alaura's pleading voice. Lily heard something being withdrawn from a bag. She guessed Liandra had an idea and sure enough, Lily smelt something quite foul a couple of seconds later.

James blew out a huge sigh of relief when Lily coughed. Liandra removed the smelling salts from under the redhead's nose and Lily's eyes fluttered open.

"Eww," she said weakly.

"Sorry. We couldn't think of another way to wake you up," Liandra replied quickly. Lily smiled.

"It was a good idea. I'm guessing you guys found out about the policy?"

"Policy?"

"_United we stand, divided we fall,_" Lily replied smiling slightly.

"You knew?" Sirius asked offended.

"It _is_ my dream world," Lily responded.

"And you didn't tell us because…?" Alaura was getting mad again.

"Again, irrelevant information until a second ago," Lily responded, shrugging.

"Ah, and when we came down here you didn't think that we'd have issues like this?" Alaura asked again, forcibly keeping her voice calm.

"When we came down here I didn't think we'd be following this lovely crystal path," Lily answered.

"Girls…" James started.

"Butt out James Potter," they both replied in unison. Looking at each other, stunned they burst out laughing.


	15. Testing Friendships

Liandra, Alaura, Lily, Sirius, Remus and James wandered onwards, down the crystal pathway that was stretched before them. Nothing was different; nothing was odd, so then what was the uneasy feeling haunting Liandra's stomach? The green grass stretched out on either side of them going on and on without a flaw.

_Or not,_ Liandra thought, noticing five figures in the grass. As they got closer to the figures she observed that they weren't just any figures, they were her friends.

_But how could they be my friends when my friends are right behind me?_ Liandra asked herself looking behind her. Her friends weren't there. Instead, behind her were five Slytherins. Liandra screamed and ran to the five unconscious figures. The Slytherins looked at each other, confusion shining in their eyes.

"Liandra? What's wrong?" one of them asked.

"You're asking me what's wrong? You… what the hell did you do to my friends?" The Slytherins were taken aback. Liandra never swore. Never.

"Lia… that's not us," a blond haired person said.

"Us? No of course not! These are my friends! What did you do to them?" Liandra was screaming at them frantically now. "And what the hell did you just call me?"

"I called you Lia," the blond girl replied. Liandra was confused. The girl looked like a fifth year Slytherin she had had the pleasure of tutoring once but she knew things that only Lily and Alaura would know. For example, her nickname, Lia.

"How do you know about that name?"

"Liandra, what the hell has come over you? We are your friends, through and through," the other girl, blue eyed and brown hair, said.

"You are my friends? You look suspiciously like Slytherins to me," Liandra retorted sharply. The blond haired girl sighed as a brown eyed boy wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

"We're not Slytherins, Lia, you have to believe us," a black haired boy spoke up.

"Alright then, if you really are my friends I get to ask you questions and the answers only my friends know." At the Slytherins' nods she took a deep breath. "Okay… Lily, Alaura's parents worked where when they were living in America?"

"They worked at a magical boutique store um… Astounding Accessories." There was a soft pop and Lily was there, in the place of the blond haired Slytherin girl. Liandra breathed out a sigh.

"Remus, James and Sirius change into what animals on the full moon?" All three boys looked taken aback.

"A grim-looking dog and a stag…" the black haired boy that had spoken up answered carefully. With a soft pop, Remus was standing in that spot. He looked amazed.

"How did you…"

"Not important," Liandra stressed.

"Alaura, where did Lily, you and I go last year in the summer?"

"Easy one! We went to Lily's house for a week before her parents let us go to their beach house in the south of Italy where we spent the next six weeks, Lordy that was fun, and then we went back to merry old England where we spent the rest of the time at your house. The day before term we met up with these three and got our school supplies in Diagon Alley," the brown haired girl replied. As she finished, there was a soft pop, and Alaura was standing there grinning widely.

"James, what are the nicknames of the Marauders?" 

"Remus is Moony, Sirius is Padfoot and I'm Prongs," the boy with his arms wrapped around Lily's waist answered. Another soft pop sounded and James was standing with his arms around the redhead.

"Sirius, what is Alaura's most prized possession?"

"Her photo album. She told me that they day I looked through it." There was a final pop and Sirius was standing there grinning madly. Liandra let out a sigh of relief.

_So that's my weakness,_ she thought. _My friends and those I love._ She hadn't been sure of it before, but the last ten minutes had confirmed it.


	16. Helpless

Liandra's outburst had Remus spooked. He'd never seen someone that freaked out before. It was a dangerous situation to be in and to think… he might be forced into it. What would he be presented with? Would he be forced to tell his darkest secrets? Would he be pitted against his friends?

* * *

They had been walking for hours and night – or something like it – had fallen. Remus looked up to find his worst nightmare. A full moon, but then why wasn't it affecting him as usual?

"Remus," Liandra's quiet voice penetrated his foggy, fear-filled mind. "What's the matter?" He felt compelled to trust her and to tell her everything, really he did, but something was holding him back. Something in the back of his mind was telling him that he would lose her if she ever found out. Sure, she knew about the Marauders and their transformations but did she know that his transformation was not on will?

"Nothing, Lia. Nothing," he replied, though his heart was screaming for him to do otherwise.

"Something is wrong," Liandra insisted quietly, "but you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He looked down at her crestfallen face sighing heavily.

_I wish I could tell you, love, but not now, not yet._****

**_Then when are you going to explain things to her?_** It had been a long time since Remus had heard that nagging voice. He hated that the voice always seemed to have a point.

_Not yet. She's not ready to hear it.****_

**_She'll never be ready to hear it if you keep "protecting" her like this._**__

_I'm not telling her.****_

**_Fine. In the end, you're only hurting her by keeping it a secret._** Remus breathed out heavily.

"Are you okay Moony?" Sirius' voice cut through his arguing with his own brain. Remus knew the sentence was laced with double meaning.

"Fine," Remus replied resolutely. He was determined to do what he could for Tanice and that meant facing his fears… even if it was telling Liandra the truth. Just not yet.

"We have to keep going. I don't…" but Lily didn't have to finish her sentence. She had said it so many times during their journey on the ever-winding crystal path. She didn't know how much longer Tanice/Tanith could last. Suddenly, a churning began in the pit of Remus' stomach. He was transforming.

_No,_ he thought frantically. _Not in front of them, not so close to them._ James and Sirius seemed to understand their friend's predicament and immediately transformed, using their bodies to block the girls from a possible werewolf bite.

"What's wrong?" Alaura whispered to Lily and Liandra.

"He's transforming," Liandra whispered back, so the Marauders couldn't hear them.

"Can we stop it?"

"Not unless you can get rid of the full moon," Liandra replied.

"But why did James and Sirius transform?"

"Werewolves can't harm animals," Lily answered Alaura. They watched silently as fur sprouted all over Remus' body. Sadness crept into Liandra's eyes, realizing this was painful, and this was what Remus went though once a month. She decided this was much worse than **_her_** time of the month.

"What are we supposed to do? James and Sirius can't just fend him off all night. He'll exhaust himself," Alaura said quietly watching the werewolf take a sniff around. He looked straight at them when he caught their scent.

"I hated keeping this from them…" Lily said slowly before dropping down into a green-eyed fox. Alaura shook her head and transformed herself. The lioness that now stood where Alaura had been moments before was still shaking its head. Liandra looked back at the werewolf in front of her. True, she was terrified. You could even say scared shitless but there was something in the wolf's eyes that made her stand her ground.

_Something's not right,_ Liandra told herself but changed into her panther form. Within the blink of an eye, the werewolf had transformed back into Remus, though he was looking at the five animals horror struck.

"You shouldn't have done that," he whispered. Liandra ambled up to him and nuzzled his chest before attempting to change back into her human form. It didn't work. There was a tearing in her insides and she let out an anguished meow. Remus petted her head silently.

"It wasn't safe. I thought something was wrong as soon as I changed. There wasn't any pain. Then when I saw Lily change I was sure something wasn't right. Especially Lily. With her in her animagus form there is no way we know where to go," Remus was muttering. Liandra tried again, to turn back into the blue-eyed, black haired human, but it again didn't work. There was an audible tearing sound as Liandra let out a loud, scream-like, meow.

"Don't!" Remus exclaimed watching as Liandra collapsed at his feet. He stroked her gingerly before remembering the bag of ingredients she had brought with them. He motioned to Alaura to bring it to him. The lioness looked at him, her lavender eyes shining with annoyance. The look that the queen of beasts was giving him said I-am-not-a-pack-mule.

"Yes, and I can't heal your friend without that bag," Remus replied. The lioness rolled her eyes but picked up the bag and trotted over to Remus. The werewolf took a good look at Liandra's underside. She had torn the skin open trying to transform herself and the wound didn't look good. He wondered fleetingly where the scar would form on her body. He dug through the bag until he found a green vial. He held it up to the panther's mouth, tipping it back so the sleek black creature could drink. When the contents of the bottle had been drained, Remus watched the rather large gash in the panther's stomach heal instantly. That gave him an idea. He pulled out his wand and, holding Liandra tightly to him, put a shield around himself.

"Try changing," he whispered. An instant later, a battered and tired Liandra stood cuddled closely to his side. The two then split to change James, Sirius, Alaura and Lily back into their human forms.

"We're being tested," Lily said grumpily. "I hate tests."

"But, love, you seem to always do well on them," James replied wrapping a thankful arm around the redhead's waist. **(A/N: He likes doing that.)**

"How did you figure all of that out?" Liandra asked Remus quietly. Sirius and Alaura were yelling at each other for being stupid enough to change and Lily and James looked too wrapped up in making sure the other had no lasting damage to pay attention.

"I don't know. I guess it was kind of weird that the potion worked on you and yet you couldn't change. Then I realized that maybe if there was a shield or something protecting you from the major spell that was being used to keep you in your panther form. By the way, why didn't you three tell us you were animagi?"

"We… we weren't really sure if you were. We wanted to make sure before we went revealing ourselves," Liandra replied uneasily.

"Hey, I'm not mad at you," Remus said lifting her chin. "In fact, I was afraid that you wouldn't want to associate with me after you found out."

"That you're a werewolf? As if!" Alaura had overheard the last part of Remus' sentence. "We're better friends than that!"


	17. Fear Personified

With three of six tests complete, Sirius, Lily and James were more on edge than usual. What was coming next?

"I don't like this," Lily said watching the sun set on the far away horizon. "It's too quiet."

"Something's about to happen," Sirius agreed, watching the night's blackness absorb the previously clear blue sky. The darkness was moving too mast to be natural and as Sirius pointed this out, all heads tilted up to watch black absorb blue.

"I don't like black," Lily whispered, thinking back to a dark dream, The grassy meadow became dark stone, the blue sky, damp dungeon walls as Lily watched horrorstruck. She was honestly and truly living her nightmare come to life. Or was she? This was her world and she was awake and strong. She could manipulate this dream any way she wanted… couldn't she?

"In a circle, all facing out," Lily murmured facing her back to Alaura's and drawing her wand. James stood to one side, Liandra to her other as Lily waited for the scene to set itself.

"Do not move," Lily whispered. They knew better than to argue with Lily, especially in this situation, and therefore watched as old rusted shackles appeared on the walls and six armed figures sprouted from the floor. Lily was rooted to the spot, forced to watch as her friends were peeled away from the circle one by one. She was then grasped roughly and she struggled hard against her captors but it was no use. The chained her to the wall as had been done in the frightful nightmare at Halloween.__

_We're done for. We failed you Tanice, I'm sorry._ The screaming began as Liandra and Alaura realized what those hooded figures intended to do.**__**

**_I never thought of you as a quitter, Lily,_** Tanith's voice sounded in her head.__

_I'm not,_ Lily thought tiredly.**__**

**_Then why aren't you trying?_**__

_We've already failed.****_

**_Have you? Or is this just what you fear?_** The scene was moving in slow motion. One figure lifted his wand and pointed it at Sirius.__

_I didn't want to fail.****_

**_You were afraid of it._** Lily had to give Tanith credit, if it really was her. She seemed to know Lily better than Lily knew herself.__

_So what if I was? Knowing that I was afraid of failing doesn't help now.****_

**_It doesn't?_**__

_Right. Right?_

**_What if you had to overcome your fear to get out?_** The light bulb came on in Lily's head. If she could only… what? What could she really do?

"Lily!" James called across the chamber. "What is this?"

"Fear," Lily returned, softer.

"We haven't failed, Lil. We only have if you let this happen!" Liandra yelled hysterically as the wand was pointed at Remus. Lily looked to Sirius and noticed that his chest was slowly rising and falling. Sirius, unlike in her dream, was breathing.__

_Am I really afraid of failing?_ Lily asked herself, _or am I afraid of dark dungeons with shackles that are figments of my imagination?_

"Lily!"__

_We haven't failed. Not until we all give up._

"Lily!"__

_And I'm no quitter._ There was a flash of blinding white light and when Lily woke up, she was lying in the grassy meadow again, the crystal path to her left.__

_What in Merlin's name…?_ Lily thought as her test came back to her. They hadn't failed at all, in fact, they had passed.

"I hope I never get caught up in another on of your tests, Lil," Alaura groaned sitting up. Lily only smiled, thanking whatever God was watching over them that every one was safe.

"You were afraid of failing," James said quietly, approaching Lily.

"I'm always afraid of failing, but with so much more at stake…"

"It got magnified."

"Exactly."

"Two tests left," he whispered giving her a hand up and following Sirius and Alaura further down the path.

"And we'll all be here. Every step of the way."


	18. Hanging by a Branch

Tension in the group mounted, apprehension shining on each worried face as they continued on down the pathway. As much as they anticipated the next test, a stampede was not expected. The path cracked in half, Alaura screamed and Sirius dove, missing Alaura by millimeters. A branch was what broke Alaura's fall as the girl grasped it tightly so as not to fall into the ever running stampede. Lily and Liandra screamed from the opposite side of the canyon where James and Remus were doing their best to keep their girlfriends from diving in after Alaura.

"Help!" Alaura called up. Sirius dropped to his stomach, reaching a hand down to grab Alaura's.

"Sirius, it's just an illusion," a familiar voice said from behind the black haired man. Looking over his shoulder, Sirius found Alaura.__

_But Alaura's stuck in the chasm,_ he told himself looking down into fearful lavender eyes.

"Sirius! What the hell are you waiting for? Help me up!" Sirius couldn't decide which was the right one, the real Alaura.

"Sirius what the hell! Alaura will fall any second!" Lily yelled, straining her neck to see if she could find the end of the stampede.

"Leave her Sirius," the Alaura behind him suggested.

"Even if she's not the real Alaura, I'm not just going to leave her down there," Sirius answered reaching a hand down into the canyon.

"You can't do that. If you touch her, I disappear and vice versa." That threw Sirius off. Alaura never ever said vice versa and how on earth would Alaura know about all of that?

"You're not Alaura," Sirius said quietly, renewing his efforts to get the real Alaura out of the canyon.

"My fingers are slipping!" Alaura screamed. At the last second, Sirius, remembering he was a wizard and that he had his wand, whipped out the useful piece of wood and with a few choice words had Alaura floating up and safely into his arms. Upon the first contact between the two, the imposter screamed and disappeared in a ball of flame. The stampede stopped as quickly as it had started and the canyon closed, changing from dusty brown rock back to the crystal of the path. The others quickly crossed the path and enveloped Sirius and Alaura in a large group hug.

"I thought you were a goner there for a minute," Lily gasped out through her terrified tears.

"I was wondering how much longer it would take Sirius to help Alaura!" James exclaimed but Alaura and Sirius weren't really listening.

"You're alright?" Sirius whispered. Alaura did not answer. Instead she pulled Sirius close.

"Alaura, are you okay?" Sirius asked again.

"Scared – terrified actually – confused, thankful, sore but in one piece," Alaura returned, her voice shaking for the first time.

"Terrified and thankful I can understand. Confused… not so much," Sirius said looking over her head.

"What took you so long? I could have…"

"But you didn't. You're here, alive, and as you said, in one piece," Sirius interrupted, wrapping his arms more protectively around Alaura. She had to give him credit, it was a good point.

"Damn you for being smart," she murmured as Sirius' lips descended onto hers.


	19. Never Give Up

Lily hugged James close as she watched the sun set for the third time in their time in Lily's dream world. The last test; James'

"James?"

"Yes, love?"

"No matter what happens, just remember I love you, okay?"

"Always, Lils, and I love you too." Silence reigned again as the six walked through the slowly growing darkness.

"Lumos," all six said dully, created six dots of light as their wand tips flared to life.

"I hate this," Alaura said quietly, wrapping her arm more securely around Sirius' waist. Lily was thinking the same thing. Not knowing what was coming next scared her more than she would ever admit. They came to a fork in the road and Lily saw exactly what she had been dreading. The right fork showed the crystal rose, and the left showed a completely peaceful wizarding world.

"We… have to choose," Lily gulped.

"Then we're going for the rose. We didn't come down here to bring peace and harmony to the world," Alaura said turning to the right.

"But peace and harmony…" Remus began.

"Tanice is too high of a price to pay," Alaura countered.

"Is it?" James inquired. "Is one life too high of a price for the safety of millions?"

"Peace is never permanent," Lily pointed out softly.

"This one is."

"Prove it. We don't know how long that peace is going to last. In this case, Tanice's life it too high of a price to pay," Lily pointed out.

"Look at it, Lil! No one's attacking any one, every one's peaceful and serene, what more can you ask for?" Sirius replied.

"Peace never lasts, evil is never vanquished and that is why Tanice's life is too high," Lily reasoned. "As soon as we get used to the peace, the world will be once again plunged into chaos. It's a never ending circle and there's no way to stop it."

"Lily makes a good point," James conceded. "Peace never lasts, no matter how hard we work."

"You're going to gibe up harmony between species?" Remus asked quietly, the sentence laced with double meaning.

"It won't last. Very few things do," Liandra whispered, "and it shouldn't matter what other people think of you or what they say as long as you have friends and people who love you." Remus considered this a moment before nodding.

"You're right, it won't last." It was the last of that argument and so they began down the right fork, towards the crystal rose.

* * *

Lily hadn't expected the path to the rose to be so long, nor the wait for James' test so nerve wracking. They had been walking for days, resting when it got dark, and walking through the continuous sunlight. It wasn't until the fifth day of walking on the rose's path that they saw the sparking object standing upright on an amethyst pedestal. Approaching it carefully, Lily stretched out her hand to touch it.

"Don't Lily. We don't know if it's a trap," Liandra warned.

"But it's what we need," Lily countered, reaching out again. The delicate rose was light, as Lily found out when she lifted it down into her hands. It sparkled and hummed with magic as Lily passed it to James. She felt something poke the side of her head and an arm wrap around her torso, pinning her arms to her sides. Alaura's eyes widened and Liandra whimpered.

"Give me the rose or Red gets it," the hissing voice of Voldemort threatened, poking his wand even further into Lily's temple.

"Don't give it to him," Lily protested, wincing as the wand was driven further into her skull. James looked torn. This was probably his worst nightmare: having to choose between Lily and another thing that mattered a lot to him. His hand that held the rose reached out towards Voldemort.

"James, no!" Lily exclaimed, her eyes wide. Voldemort reached out with his own snake-like hand to take the rose, loosening his hold on Lily at the same time. His fingers closed on the rose just as Lily summoned the crystal object to her. Every eye was on the rose as it flew in the air towards the redhead. Voldemort raised his wand as Lily caught the object.

"Expelliarmus," he intoned sending Lily backwards and causing the rose to shatter into pieces, scattering the sparkling raindrops across the grass, path and pedestal, leaving a glowing ball of power, floating away in the sky. Cursing at his own stupidity, Voldemort left with a pop. Lily got up, crystal tears forming in her eyes as she scrambled on her hands and knees to pick up the scattered pieces.

"We can put it back together can't we?" Alaura asked, her voice uncharacteristically high.

-----__

_One heart can make a difference_

_One choice can change it all_

_One voice can travel the distance_

_And be heard all around the world._

_-----_

"I don't think so, Alaura," Lily responded dejectedly. "It's in too many pieces." No feeling Lily had ever experienced could ever match the foreboding sense of failure churning in the pit of her stomach.

-----__

_Would you make a sacrifice?_

_If you knew that it was right?_

_And the answer's there if you look inside_

_Would you run and hide?_

_Or will you fight the fight?_

_-----_

"We failed?" Sirius asked disbelievingly.

"It looks like it," Alaura sobbed, her own crystal tears creating rivers down her cheeks.

"We haven't failed until we've all given up," James pointed out, "and I for one am not ready to make that sacrifice. We've come way to far to stop and give up now."

_-----_

_There's a power inside you_

_There's a battle to be won_

_Every victory has a beginning_

_The way it always has begun_

_With the power of one_

_-----_

James held his hand in front of him, palm down.

"Neither am I," Remus agreed, putting his hand on top of James'

_-----_

_One day you'll realize it_

_That one hope is all you need_

_One dream we can all share_

_One dream we all believe_

_-----_

"For Tanice," Liandra said laying her hand on top of Remus'.

"We make ourselves fail if we give up," Sirius thought out loud. "I'm in." He added his hand to the pile.

_-----_

_And we'll make that sacrifice_

_Just because we know its right_

_And we'll face the answer that's there inside_

_We won't run and hide_

_We gonna fight the fight_

_-----_

Lily looked to a tear streaked Alaura who was staring disbelievingly at the others.

"They're right, you know," she told her friend, meeting Alaura's gaze unflinchingly. "We don't fail until we allow ourselves to." Standing shakily, Lily walked over to her circle of friends, resting her own hand on top of Sirius'

"And I for one am not ready to give up just yet."

_-----_

_There's a power inside you_

_There's a battle to be won_

_Every victory has a beginning_

_The way it always had begun_

_With the power of one_

_-----_

Alaura's eyes darted from one friend to the other, taking in their determined faces. They weren't about to give up so why should she? Her sister was counting on them to help, so how could she just give up?

"_United we stand, divided we fall_," Alaura said adding her own hand on top of Lily's.

-----__

_With the power of one_

_We'll look inside_

_We won't run and hide, no_

_We will fight the fight_

_-----_

An electric jolt ran through their hands as Alaura' palm touched the back of Lily's hand. They watched in awe as first James, then Remus, then Liandra, Sirius, Lily and lastly Alaura began to glow.

_-----_

_There's a power inside you_

_There's a battle to be won_

_Every victory has a beginning_

_The way it always has begun_

_With the power of one_

_-----_

The glowing intensified, as did the heat in their hands. Head were throbbing, limbs were aching but they couldn't take their hands away from the pile. The last thing Lily could remember before she blacked out was seeing her feet leave the ground as she was roughly propelled backward into the amethyst pedestal.

* * *

The song in this chapter is "One Heart" by O-Town.


	20. Ancient Power and Memory Lane

Something sparkled above Lily's head. The rose. She reached up but it wasn't there. Blinking again, Albus Dumbledore's face swam into view.

"Ah. Thank goodness you are alright," he said softly. Lily looked around her and found herself in the Hospital Wing, tucked comfortably in a white bed. Alaura and Sirius were curled up against the side of her bed fast asleep, Remus and Liandra against the end and James was asleep on a chair off to the side. A pile of gift and cars were beside her and as she picked up a card, Dumbledore spoke.

"From friends and admirers," he said smiling.

"How long?"

"Around two weeks if I am not mistaken." Lily gaped. Two weeks? She was out cold for two whole weeks?

"Your friends woke up last week."

"Professor? I have a couple of clarification questions," she said looking him straight in the eye.

"By all means, ask away."

"The ancient power… it wasn't the rose, was it?"

"Alas, no. The rose was only a conduit for the power." The curtains shifted slightly in the late April breeze coming through the open windows of the infirmary.

"The ancient power was the power of the heart, wasn't it?" Lily asked the professor.

"Very good, Lily. Determination and hope, the power of the heart, is the oldest power known at the moment," the headmaster answered.

"So when we all piled our hands together and 'combined our heart power', that's what revived Tanice? And Tanice is awake, right?"

"Quite right, my dear. Miss Cook woke up on the twenty sixth of March at about eight o'clock in the morning. Now, I must go. There are important issues I must attend to," Dumbledore said, standing and strolling out of the pure white room as Madam Pomfrey bustled in, potion bottles in her arms. She set about pouring the recommended amounts into the glass that she had brought with her.

"I am keeping you for the night, Miss Evans, just to make sure you are in tip top shape," the nurse said before pouring the redhead some dreamless sleep potion.

"Please don't tell my friends I've woken. It'll be easier for them to see later." Madam Pomfrey agreed, watching carefully as Lily drank every last drop of the potion and drifted off.

* * *

Waking the next morning to an empty Hospital Wing, Lily dressed, thanked the medi-witch and made her way to Gryffindor Tower.__

_Lunch_, she though upon reaching the unoccupied common room. Quickly changing into a clean uniform, Lily checked to find that it was Friday before grabbing her afternoon books and heading down to the Great Hall for something to eat.

* * *

Applause and cheering greeted the emerald-eyed redhead as she opened the door to the Great Hall. James, Alaura, Sirius, Liandra and Remus seemed tired and out of it, completely missing the loud racket around them. Rolling her eyes, Lily made her way towards them, taking the empty seat to James' left, as always. When they still didn't react, Lily sighed and spoke.

"You've been up to that much have you?" Five heads snapped in her direction and eyes lit up as they fell on the smiling girl.

"Lily!" came the reaction as Remus and Liandra rushed around the table to join the group hug Sirius, James and Alaura had started. It was great to be back with her friends. Where she belonged.

* * *

With exams done, and standardized testing (OWL's and NEWT's) complete, relaxation was the top priority on every one's list. Lily, James, Sirius, Alaura, Remus and Liandra were sitting in the shade of a large oak by the lake, enjoying each other's company.

"No worries or cares. This is the life," Sirius said wrapping his arms closely around Alaura.

"We all know it won't last long," Lily pointed out. "Sooner or later Snape and Malfoy will come over to pick a fight with you three, Sirius and James will pull out their wands to fight them, Tanice will come over with more of her first year friends and ask Alaura to tell the story of the Angel's Seal again, and Remus and Liandra will start a debate with Kristiina over foreign languages and places, leaving me as peace keeper." Every one laughed as James hugged her closer. She was perched comfortably beside James, her head on his chest, Alaura and Sirius only a few feet away, lying on Sirius' robe.

"Think about it guys, we only have one year left," Liandra said quietly.

"And to think. James and I are Heads next year," Lily replied.

"How did you manage that any way? You two have got to be the worst pranksters in the school," Alaura asked.

"Our impeccable grades and charming personalities. Plus, we're not the top pranksters. You and Sirius are," James retorted. They laughed again, the sound carrying across the grounds to the open window of an abandoned classroom where a small girl was training with a very stern woman. The girl smiled, throwing another pillow against the wall without the use of her wand. This was how things should be. Happy and carefree and she had helped achieve it along with making friends in the process. Yes, everything was going perfectly.

* * *

The end of the year feast was as elaborate and fun filled as it had ever been, the food as filling and delicious as ever. Dumbledore announced the house cup winner – Gryffindor – the quidditch cup winners – Gryffindor – and that Lily and James were next year's Head Boy and Girl. The end of the year prank, courteous of Alaura and Sirius, was not as glamorous as it could have been, but dung bombs seemed to work fine for the occasion. Memories were exchanged, memory lane walked by most and before they knew it, it was time to board the train for home. The Marauders, Lily, Alaura and Liandra were fairly quiet on the ride, thinking of what they had learned this year, not only in classes but as people too. They disembarked as they train squeaked into King's Cross station and said their goodbyes with hugs, kisses and last words.__

_Until next year, Hogwarts, Until next year,_ Lily thought as she walked through the barrier and into her mother's arms.

* * *

****

**This is the absolute end of the story. Look for the reposting of Possession soon!**


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